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THE AMERICAN 



EVANGELISTS, 

Dwight L. Moody 



AND 



Ira D. San key, 



WITH AN ACCOUNT OF 



THEIR WORK IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA; 



AND A SKETCH OF THE LIVES OF 

P. P. BLISS AND DR. EBEN TOURJE1E. 



BY THE 

REV. ELIAS NASON 









BOSTON : 
D. LOTHROP & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN AND HAWLEY* STREETS. 

it- 







Copyright by 

D. LOTHROP & CO 

1877. 



PBEFACE. 



One of the most remarkable steps in the progress of 
Christianitj 7 to be recorded during this present age is, that 
two young men, of but limited education, have arisen from 
amongst the people, and by dedicating themselves solely 
to the service of God, and proclaiming his truth in the 
simplicity of faith, have succeeded, both in Great Britain as 
well as in America, in awakening the attention of millions, 
not only of the illiterate, but also of the intelligent, to the 
realit}' of religion, and to an aspiration for a higher and a 
holier life. Such was the aim and such is the result of the 
labors of the two evangelists, D wight l^man Moody and 
Ira David Sankey, who are now heralding, with a success 
far greater than that of the Weslej^s or of George Whitefield, 
the glad tidings of salvation to their fellow-men. Without 
learning, without pretension, without ordination even, these 
two earnest men, with an eye single to the Master's service, 
move the minds of the multitudes, as the winds the weaves 
of the ocean, and send forth an influence that reaches round 
and round the globe. 

Such grand results, from means so simple, are surprising. 
They confound the world's philosophy, and can be inter- 
preted only by the prophet's declaration, " Not by might, 
nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

Their glorious work is moving on. The sermons of Mr. 
Moody, the songs of Mr. Sankey, who are in labor, as in 
person, counterparts of each other, still bend the hearts of 
the high, the low, the rich, the poor, the learned, and the 
ignorant, to declare for Jesus. Vast tabernacles are raised 
for the accommodation of the myriads who crowd to hear 
them ; the preachers sit as willing listeners at their feet ; 
the secular press proclaims in different tongues their unstud 
ied utterances ; and souls unnumbered are rejoicing in the 
light and hope such earnest words and simple songs have 
brought to them. 

But who are these two gifted men ? From what Nazareths 
did they spring ? On what celestial nutriment have they fed ? 
What are their records and their precedents ? How exten- 
sive and effectual have been their labors ? What are their 
means and methods in evangelizing? what their aims, their 
forces, characters? What is the secret of their success? 

Such questions come up naturally to every mind regarding 
them. Such and similar questions it will be the writer's aim 
to answer. His means for doing this arise in part from 
having been in England dining Messrs. Moody and Sankey' s 
labors there, from personal observation of their great work 
here, and from an intimate acquaintance with many minis- 
ters and others who have labored with these two evangelists. 

Over the several excellent works now written on this 
subject, this perhaps may claim the advantage of having a 
genealog3 T of the Moody and Holton families, of giving an 
account of the power of music in revivals of religion, and 
also of extending the record of the labors of these co-work- 
ers in the service of the Lord down to the present time. 









PREFACE. 6 

Acknowledgments are due to the Rev. George F. Pente- 
cost, for an account of the labors of the evangelists in 
Chicago ; to the Rev. Dr. W. F. Mallalieu, for a part of the 
record of their work in Great Britain ; to William Blake 
Trask, Esq., for compiling the genealogy of the Mood}" and 
Holton families ; and to other gentlemen who have kindly 
assisted the writer in the preparation of this volume. 

With the hope and prayer that God may use it for the 
advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom, it is now respect- 
fully presented to the public. 

Boston, February, 1877. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE MOODY AND HOLTON FAMILIES. 



Lineage of the Moodys and the Tloltons. — Description of Northfield. — The 
Aborigines. — The House in which D. L. Moody was born. — Mr. Edwin 
Moody. — His Death. — Impression on his Son. — Mrs. Moody's Character 
and Trials. — Her Pastor. — Traits of D. L. Moody in Boyhood. — A Trial to 
Mr. Everett. — Love for his Mother. — His First Prayer. — His Work on the 
Farm. — His Boyish Pranks. — He attempts to buy a Yoke of Oxen. — His 
Oldest Brother leaves Home. — Anxiety of the Family. — Early Education. 
— Influences under which Young Moody's Character was developed. — The 
Remark of an Old Man. — The Story of a Money-loving Farmer 



CHxlPTER II. 
MR. MOODY IN BOSTON AND CHICAGO. 

Young Moody leaves School. — A Clerk in his Uncle Holton's Store. — Condi- 
tions on which he entered it. — He attends Mount Vernon Church and 
Sabbath School. — His Personal Appearance at this Time. — Letter from 
Home. —He is visited by Mr? Kimball, and converted. — How he repays Mr. 
Kimball for his Kindness. — Opposition to his Speaking in the Meetings. — 
He is examined and admitted into Dr. Kirk's Church. — Deacon Palmer at 
Exeter Hall in London. — Dr. Kirk's Opinion. — Young Moody removes to 
Chicago. — The Advantages he derived from living in Boston. — His Opinion 
of the City. — He joins the Rev. J. E. Roy's Church. — Engages in Recruiting- 
Service for the Sabbath School 41 



CHAPTER HI. 

MISSION-SCHOOL AND ARMY WORK. 

Mr. Moody's Study of the Bible. — His Mission. — His Business Relations. — 
His School at the Rookery. — His Method of managing it. — Description of 
the School. — Mr. Reynolds's Opinion. — Recruiting for Pupils. — Removal to 

7 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

the Hall of North Market. — J. V. Farwell, Superintendent. ^Increase of 
the School. —Energy of Mr. Moody. — His Character as a Man of Business. 

— He pays a Bill for a Customer. — He devotes his Whole Time to God. — 
His Life in Danger. — An Assault. — One Idea. — Interview with Infidels. — 
Prayer in a Saloon. — A Drunkard saved. — Interview with Bishop Duggan. 

— Thanksgiving at the Rookery. — Visit of Mr. Lincoln. — Prayer in the Cars. 

— The Old Pony. — Mr. Moody's Army Life. — Marriage. — Answer to Prayer. 

— Chapel. — Entrance into Bichmond 55 



CHAPTEB IV. 



ME. MOODY AS A PREACHER. 

Plan of Mr. Moody's Church. — His Power of Endurance. — New Tear's Calls. 

— His Trust in God for Daily Support. — President of the Young Men's 
Christian Association. —Dedication of Farwell Hall. — Open-Air Meetings. — 
Prayer of the Rich Man. — Sunday-School Conventions. — Mr. Moody visits 
England. — " Out and Out for Christ." — How he prepares a Sermon. — The 
Man at the Lamp-Post. — Farwell Hall Burned. —The New Home. — Mrs. 
Moody. — The Bible-Readings. — Love. — The " I ams " of John. — Alliance 
with Mr. Sankey. — The Great Fire. — Mr. Moody's Account of it. — Visit to 
Philadelphia. — The Tabernacle erected. — The Order of Services held therein. 

— He revisits England 76 



CHAPTER V. 



LABORS EN T GREAT BRITAIN. 

A. Memorable Day. — Why the Evangelists went to England. — Their Work at 
York. — Sunderland. — Newcastle-upon-Tyne. — The Promises. — Farewell 
to Newcastle. — They visit Edinburgh. — Distrust of the Scotchmen. — Mr. 
Moody's Faith. — The Infidel Club. — Eagerness of the People to hear the 
Gospel. — Meeting at the Corn Exchange. — Tolbooth Church. — Week of 
Prayer. — Farewell Meeting at Arthur's Seat. — Glasgow visited. — Open-Air 
Meetings. — City Hall. — Erving Place Chapel. — Waiting. — Meeting for 
Children. —The Crystal Palace. — Results of Labors. — A German Pastor.— 
Temperance. — Activity of Christians. — Return to Edinburgh. — All Scot- 
land interested. — Perth. — Aberdeen. — Tain. — Huntley. — An Outdoor 
Meeting at Elgin. — Rothesay. — The Evangelists visit Belfast. — Last Meet- 
ing in that City. — Londonderry. — Dublin. — View of an Episcopalian. — An 
Aged Man converted. — Unity of Sentiment. —A Convention of Ministers 
and Others. — Visit to Manchester. — Sheffield. — Birmingham. — Assemblies 
described. — Liverpool. — Visit to London. — The City described.— Plan of 
Labor. — Results of the Revival on England and America 94 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 



EVANGELISM EST BROOKLYN AND PHILADELPHIA. 

Farewell to England. — Mr. Moody visits Northfield. — His Bible. — How he is 
Supported. —His Brother Converted. — Begins to preach at Brooklyn. —The 
First Meeting. — A Battle-Field. — The Singing of Mr. Sankey. — Conversion 
of an Infidel. — The Interest deepens. — " Hold the Fort." — How God for- 
gives Sin. — Dr. Cuyler's Account of the Work. — Meeting of Ministers. — 
Letters to Converts abroad. — " Only Trust Him." — Mr. Moody's Activity. — 
Conversion of a Lady. — Preparations in Philadelphia. — The old Freight 
Depot. —The Opening 'Service. —The Classes of People attending. — How a 
London Lady works for Christ. — Cause of the Success of the Revivalists. — 
Thanksgiving Day. — President Grant. — Midnight Watch-Meeting for Sab- 
bath-School Teachers. — George H. Stuart's Letter. — Results. — Closing 
Words to Converts. — The Orange-Tree. — Visit to Princeton 125 



CHAPTER VH. 

NEW YOKE, AUGUSTA, AND CHICAGO. 

The Hippodrome. — Use of Means. — The Meetings opened. — Setting Chris- 
tians at Work. — Mr. Moody's Sermons. — Extract from a Letter. — The 
Gospel. — Tramps. — A Scotchman's Idea of Christ. — Distinguished Men 
present. — Secular Press. — Going to the Stake. — Dom Pedro. — Young Con- 
verts. — Convention. — Witty Replies. — Music. — Closing Services. — Re- 
sidts. — An Editor's Opinion of Mr. Moody. — Augusta, Ga. — Mr. Moody's 
New Church Edifice. — Dedication. — He visits Northfield. — Springfield. — 
Work in Chicago commences. — The Tabernacle. — Harmony among the 
Clergy. — Open Service. — Ministers affected. — Death of Samuel H. Moody. 
— Sermon on the Same. — Inquirers. — Interest deepening. — Faithful Sun- 
day-School Teacher. — Germans interested 154 



CHAPTER VHT. 
CONTINUATION OF THE "WORK IN CHICAGO. 

Meeting in Farwell Hall. — A Conversion. — Singular Notions in Respect to Mr. 
Moody. — A Convention. — Great Meetings. — Letter from a Prisoner. — A 
Pledge. — An Incident. — Spread of the Revival. — An Appeal to the 
Churches. — Christmas. — Death of Mr. Bliss and Wife. — Influence of the 
Work. — An Account by the Rev. Mr. Pentecost. — Great Audiences —Re- 
ports from Churches . — Union of Christians . — Plan in the Work. — Sectarian 
Walls demolished. — Christians awakened. — Assurance. — Worldliness. — 
An Incident. — Dumb Christians. — Backsliders restored. — Effect on the 
Clergy.— Mr. Moody's Belief. — The Intemperate. — The Inquiry-Room.— 
Talk with a Sceptic. —Converts 177 



10 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE REVIVALISTS IN BOSTON. 



Preparations for the Revival — The Tabernacle. — Unity of Sentiment. — Dedi- 
cation of the Building. — Obstacles to the Work. — The Beginning. — Luxury 
of Doing Good. — Sir. Moody's Ann. — He asks for Prayer. — His Success. — 
Temperance. — Ladies' Meeting. — Reasons for Separate Services. — Jericho 
and Boston. — Rooms of Inquiry opened. — Spirit of the Meetings. — An In- 
temperate Man. — Days of Fasting. — Ministers at the Meeting. — "Faith." 

— Praise Meeting. — Dr. Mallalieu preaches on the Revival. — Mr. Moody's 
Belief . — His Sermons on Heaven. — Story of Mr. Sankey. — Service of Song. 

— Elements of his Power. — Simple Language. — Imagination. — Study of the 
Bible. — Earnestness. —Naturalness. — Rapidity of Utterance. — The Spirit 

of God. —Mr. Moody's Personal Appearance. — Voice. — Marnier 204 



IRA D. SANKEY. 

HIS BIRTH, BOYHOOD, EDUCATION, AND MISSION. 

Birth. — Education. — Love of Music. — Religious Impressions. — Conversion. 
— Unites with the Church. — Superintendent of Sunday School, and Class 
Leader. —Study of the Bible. — Army Life. — Connection with the Revenue 
Service. — His Character. — Sings in Conventions. — President of the Young 
Men's Christian Association. — Meets Mr. Moody. — Consents to labor with 
him. — Singing in Chicago. — His Manner and Motives. — A Touching Story. 
Takes Charge of the Service at the Tabernacle. — His only Hymn. — Visits 
Great Britain. — Overcomes Prejudice. — His Singing Popular. — Effects of 
his Music. — In the Highlands. — Opinion of ah Edinburgh Journalist. — Of 
Another Writer. — Popularity of Certain Songs. — Theatre and Circus, Lon- 
don. — " Ninety and Nine." — His Singing at Brooklyn; at Philadelphia. — 
His Views of Church Music. — His Singing at New York. — Address at the 
Close. — Gospel Songs No. 2. — Singing in Boston. — A Prayer for Song. — 
Mr. Sankey's Tact and Power. —Remarks of "The Inter-Ocean; " of Mrs. 
Barbour. — Mr. Sankey's Personal Appearance. — An Address to him by Mr. 
Caverly 233 



LIFE OF P. P. BLISS. 
THE BIRTH AND EDUCATION OF MR. BLISS. — HIS MUSIC, WORK, AND DEATH. 

Birth of Mr. Bliss. — Early Taste for Music. — His Disposition. — Comes to Chi- 
cago. — His Wife's Lmuence over him. — He conducts Musical Institutes. — 
Effect of his Singing on Mr. Moody. — At a Sunday-School Convention. —His 
Publications. — His Connection with Major Whittle. — A Notice of one of 
their Meetings. — A Letter. — " The Gospel Songs." — Style of the Music. — 
Sources of his Hymns. — " Lower Lights." -"I am so glad." — " Life-Boat." 



CONTENTS. 11 



PAGE 

" More to follow." — " Meet me at the Fountain." — Effects of his Music. — 
An Incident. —His Mission. — Mrs. Bliss. — The Royalty on "The Gospel 
Hymns and Sacred Songs." — " Gospel Hymns No. 2." — "Waiting and 
Watching." — Singing at Chautauqua —Remarks on Church Music. — A 
Letter. — A Prophecy. — Disaster at Ashtabula Bridge. — Death of Mr. and 
Mrs. Bliss. — Telegrams. — Letter of Condolence. — Memorial Services at 
Chicago. — Boston. — Notice from "The Tribune." — Mrs." Bliss. — Personal 
Traits of "Mr. Bliss. — His Monument. — Birth of Dr. Tourjee. — Education. 
— His Praise-Meetings. — Conservatory. — Character 263 



DR. EBEN TOURJEE 291 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF MR. MOODY. 
CHOICE SAYINGS, INCIDENTS, STORIES, AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF MR. MOODY. 

Christ Conquering. — The Net. — Realities. — God here. — Feeling. — Jesus. — 
Mysteries. — Knowledge. — Purgatory. — The Blood. — Feeling and Faith. — 
Morality. — Consequential People. — The Devil in Church. — Down Grade. — 
Thankf ulness. — Judas. — Nearness to God. — Book of Wonders. — Strength. 
— Juniper-Tree. — Reason for Faith. — Lost. — Faith. — Three Steps. — Gari- 
baldi. — Laziness. — Wesley. — Bravery. — Rushlight. — Dead Sea. — Adver- 
sity. — Workers. — Missing Stone. — A Smile. — Conversion. — Roll-Call. — 
Light. — Prairie on Fire. — Love. — Not Me. — Duty. — A Lie. — Your Life. 
— Law. — The Earth. — The Law. — Man a Failure. — Chain and All. — Scar- 
let Thread. — A Resolve. — Infidel. — A Substitute. — The Crown. — The Sur- 
geon. — " Blazing." — The Soul. — Burden-Bearer. — God and the World. — 
The Shadow. — God's Love. — Now. — Life-Boat. — Heart and Head. — The 
Rescue. — A Lady Converted. —Belief. —Norwegian Boy. — The Worm. — 
A Want. — The Bible. — Not Enough of Them. — One in Christ. — Money. — 
Higher Up. — Sympathy. — The Check. — Silence in Heaven. — Eleventh 
Hour. — Prayer. — Enthusiasm. — A Line. — A Scotch Woman. — Trust. — 
Pride. — The Bible. — Run upon the Banks 329 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Portrait of Me. Moody Frontispiece. 

Northfeeld Village (looking north) 22 

iNORTHFEELD VILLAGE (looking SOUth) 23 

Birthplace of Dwight Lyman Moody 26 - 

Mount Vernon Church 46- 

Farewell at Glasgow 109 - 

The Rink, Brooklyn 128- 

The Old Depot, Philadelphia . . . . . 144 ~ 

Young Men's Christian Association, Philadelphia . . 152 o 

The Hippodrome, New York 156- 

Young Men's Christian Association, Chicago . . . 170 

Interior View of Farwell Hall, Chicago .... 172- 

Interior of Tabernacle, Chicago ...... 185 

Moody and Sankey's Tabernacle, Boston 206- 

Interior View of Tabernacle, Boston 208v. 

Portrait of Ira D. Sankey . . 233 

Portrait of Mr. and Mrs. P. P. Bliss 263 

Portrait of Dr. Eben Tourjee 291 

13 



/ 



LIFE OP DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 



THE LIFE OP DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE MOODY AND THE HOLTON FAMILIES. — THE TOWN OF NORTH- 
FD3LD, MASS. — THE BOYHOOD OF D. L. MOODY. 

Lineage of the Moodys and the Holtons. — Description of Northfield. — 
The Aborigines. — The House in which D. L. Moody was born. — 
Mr. Edwin Moody. — His Death. — Impression on his Son. — Mrs. 
Moody's Character and Trials. — Her Pastor. — Traits of D. L. Moody 
in Boyhood. — A Trial to Mr. Everett. — Love for his Mother. — 
His First Prayer. — His Work on the Farm. — His Boyish Pranks. — 
He attempts to buy a Yoke of Oxen. — His Oldest Brother leaves 
Home. — Anxiety of the Family. — Early Education. — Influences 
under which Young Moody's Character was developed. —The Be- 
mark of an Old Man. — The Story of a Money-loving Farmer. 

"What manner of child shall this be?" — St. Luke. 
■ " A mother's love is next to God's love." — D. L. Moody. 

The celebrated evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody, 
who now has gained a world-wide reputation as a herald 
of the gospel, was born on the 5th day of February, 
1837, in the beautiful town of Noithfield, Franklin 
County, Mass. His paternal grandfather, Isaiah Moody, 
was born in 1772 ; went to Northfield about the year 

17 



18 LIFE OF DW1GHT LYMAN MOODY. 

1796, and it may have been from Hadley, where his 
brother Jacob lived, before he removed to Northfield. 
The whole fortune of Isaiah, it is stated, was "the 
horse he rode on, and his kit of tools in a bag." 
He was a mason by trade. He married Dec. 15, 1799, 
Phila, daughter of Medad Alexander, and died Feb. 
20, 1835 ; Phila his widow died Nov. 1, 1869, aged 89. 
They had nine children, — five sons and four daughters. 
Their eldest son and child, Edwin, was born in North- 
field Nov. 1, 1800, and died there May 28, 1841. He 
married Jan. 2, 1828, Betsey, daughter of Luther 
Holton. They, like his parents, had nine children, — 
seven sons and two daughters, — as follows : 1, Edwin 
J"., born Oct. 8, 1828, and died young ; 2, Cornelia M., 
born Feb. 26, 1832, and married Bigelow Walker of 
Worcester ; 3, George jP., born June 17, 1833, and mar- 
ried Julia Johnson, (2) Harriet Brown; 4, Edwin J"., 
born June 26, 1834, and settled in Chicago, 111. ; 5, 
Luther H., born Aug. 27, 1835 ; 6, DwigJit Lyman, the 
subject of this memoir; 7, Warren L., born Oct. 23, 
1838, and settled at Elmira, N.Y.; 8, 9, Samuel H. 
and Elizabeth 0. (twins), born June 24, 1841: the lat- 
ter married Bryant Washburne. 

We have not been able to connect this branch of 
the Moody family with those of the name in Hadley, 
though probably they belong to it. About the year 
1660, Samuel Moody went from Hartford, Conn., to 
Hadley, where he died Sept. 22, 1689. His widow 
Sarah was a daughter of John Deming of Wethers- 



THE MOODY AND THE HOLTON FAMILIES. 19 

field, Conn., and died Sept. 29, 1717. This Samuel is 
supposed to have been the only child of Deacon John 
Moody of Hartford, Conn., who was son of George 
Moody of Moulton, County of Suffolk, Eng. ; " a man," 
says the Candler MS., " famous for his housekeeping 
and just and plain dealing." This John Moody 1 came 
to New England in the year 1633, with his wife Sarah ; 
and settled in Eoxbury, Mass., where they became 
members of the church. He was made freeman Nov. 5, 
1635. Sarah, widow of John, died at Hartford in 1671. 

1 The following is a verbatim copy from the Eoxbury Church Rec- 
ords, p. 19, in the handwriting of the "Apostle Eliot," minister of the 
First Church in Koxbury : — 

"John Moody, he came to the Land in the yeare 1633: he had no 
children* — he had 2 men servants y* were vngodly, especially one of 
them, who in his passion would wish himself e in hell : & vse desperate 
words, yet had a good measiire of knowledge — these 2 servants would 
goe to the oister bank in a boate, & did, against the counsell of theire 
governor, where they lay all night; & in the morning early when the 
tide was out they gathe r ing oysters, did vnskillfully leave theire boate 
afloate In the verges of the chanell, & quickly the tide caryed it away 
so far in to the chanell y* they could not come neare it, w ch maide them 
cry out & hollow, but being very early & remote were not heard, till 
the water had risen very high upon them to the arme hols as its' 
thought, & then a man fro Rockbrough meeting house hill heard them 
cry & call, & he cryed & rarj w th all speed, & seing theire boate swam 
to it, & hasted to them, but they were both so drowned before any 
help could possibly come, a dreadfull example of God's displeasure 
against obstinate servats. 

Sarah Moody, the wife of John Moody." 

* His son Samuel was subsequently born, it is supposed, in Hartford, where the 
father resided as early as 1639, as the following from the Colonial Records of Con- 
necticut, under date of Aug. 1, 1639, shows : " Jno. Moody had an attachment 
graunted vppon the g[oods of Thomas] Gaines, in the hands of Mr. Stoughton, for 
ft debt [of 5K> weight of Tobacco]." T. 



20 LIFE OF DWTGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

Betsey (Holton) Moody, the mother of Dwight 
Lyman Moody, was born in Northfield Feb. 5, 1805. 
She was the daughter of Luther and Betsey (Hodges) 
Holton. She was descended in the seventh generation 
from William Houlton, who in 1634, at the age of 
twenty-three, came from Ipswich, County of Suffolk, 
Eng., in the ship " Francis ; " was an original proprie- 
tor of Hartford, Conn., and in 1654 was of North- 
ampton, Mass. He was ordained deacon of the first 
church in Northampton in 1663 ; was a representative 
to the General Court five years from Northampton, and 
one year from Hadley. He made the first motion in 
town-meeting to prohibit the sale of intoxicating 
drinks, and was the first commissioner to the General 
Court in Boston in that temperance effort. He died 
in Northampton, Aug. 12, 1691, at the advanced age 
of eighty years ; and his widow Mary, in the month 
of November following. His son John 2 was the father 
of William 3 , whose son William 4 had a- son Lemuel 5 , 
born in 1749, and died Oct. 1, 1786 ; " a very worthy 
and valuable man," says the church record of North- 
field. Luther 6 , son of Lemuel 5 , born in 1777, died 
Sept. 24, 1835; he married April 2, 1801, Betsey 
Hodges, who died Jan. 30, 1845, aged sixty-three. 
They had thirteen children, among whom were 
Fanny, born Aug. 6, 1803, married Oct. 16, 1825, 
Simeon P. Moody: Betsey, married Jan. 3, 1828, Edwin 
Moody; these were the parents of Dwight Lyman 
Moody : Martha and Mary (twins) born June 11, 1809; 



THE MOODY AND THE HOLTON FAMILIES. 21 

the former married May 20, 1838, Zebulon Allen ; the 
latter married Jan. 14, 1841, Lewis Ferrell of Green- 
field: Calvin, born Oct. 11, 1811, married Susan, sister 
to Anson Burlingame : Samuel Socrates, married (1) 
October, 1843, Elizabeth J. Clapp of Boston, (2) Try- 
phenia S., her sister, (3) Nov. 24, 1859, Georgiana D., 
another sister : Lemuel, born Feb. 21, 1822, married in 
1848 Maria Brown, (2) Amelia Smith. Samuel S. 
and his brother Lemuel have long been engaged in 
business in Boston. 1 

The town of Northfleld, in which the evangelist had 
his birth, is situated in the north-easterly part of Frank- 
lin County, Mass., and. is noted for its picturesque and 
varied scenery. 

The Connecticut River winds gracefully through a 
rich alluvial soil in the westerly section of the town ; 
while various mountain-peaks, with charming valleys 
intervening, present delightful scenic views upon the 
right and left. Several mountain streams, as the Squa- 
keag and the Mill Brook, on the latter of which are 
the celebrated Glen Falls, glide through the landscape, 
set in motion here and there a saw-mill, and then enter 
the main river. 

The principal street of Northfleld extends along an 
elevated plain on the left bank of the river ; and the 

1 The above sketches of the Moody and Holton families have been 
compiled chiefly from that excellent work, the History of Northfleld; 
by J. H. Temple and George Sheldon, published by Joel Munsell, 
Albany, N.Y., 1875; and the chart of a portion of the Holton family, by 
David Parsons Holton, M.D., of New York City. 



22 



LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 



dwelling-houses, ornamented with gardens, fruit and 
forest trees, present a scene of quiet rural beauty such 
as a Shenstone or a Goldsmith might admire. 

The population in 1875 was 1,641. The men are 
mostly farmers, — healthful, robust, independent; and 
their extensive herds, as well as ample barns, attest the 




NORT 



LD VILLAGE LOOKING NORTH. 



fertility of the soil in this part of the beautiful valley 
of the Connecticut River. 

The Massachusetts and Vermont Railway follows the 
direction of the main street; and at the centre, near 
the station, may be seen the two churches of the town, 
and the rural cemetery where the ashes of the Moody 
family repose. The Indian name of the place was 
Squakeag ; and people from Hadley and Northampton 



THE MOODY AND THE HOLTON FAMILIES. 



23 



began to settle here as early as 1663. Being, however, 
on the frontier, they suffered greatly from the savages, 
who saw with no good-will the encroachment of the 
whites upon their territory. 

Several assaults were made upon the settlement; and 
the memory of one of them, in which Capt. Richard 




NORTHFIELD VILLAGE LOOKING SOUTH. 



Beers was killed, is perpetuated in the name of a 
mountain in the southerly part of the town. 

Some remains of the aborigines still appear, among 
which are two Indian mounds about fifteen feet in 
height, in the vicinity of the Moody place. There is 
also a ledge between the Moody place and the centre 
of the town, which marks the spot where Mr. Aaron 
Belding was killed by the Indians as late as 1748. 

The town was incorporated Feb. 22, 1713, and is 



24 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

noted as the birthplace of the Rev. Caleb Alexander, 
D.D. (1755-1828), author of several schoolbooks ; and 
of Joel Munsell, well known as a writer and an anti- 
quarian publisher. 

It is also noted as the residence of Timothy Swan, 
composer of the original tune " China," who died here 
July 23, 1842, at the advanced age of eighty-two 
years. 

The first minister of the place was the Rev. Benja- 
min Doolittle, ordained in 1718 ; and among his parish- 
ioners were the Holton family, of whom William 
Holton had been one of the committee appointed by 
the General Court to lay out the town. 

The house in which Dwight Lyman Moody was 
born, and which is still occupied by his venerable 
mother, is of two stories, and stands at a little dis- 
tance from the main street, about a mile north of the 
centre of the town, and about one-fourth of a mile east 
of the Connecticut River. It is a plain, commodious 
farmhouse, well shaded by some fine old rock-maple 
trees, and having near it a pleasant garden and an 
apple-orchard. 

The view from this point is superb. The fair Con- 
necticut River is seen for several miles sweeping along 
down through the luxuriant meadows, and spanned 
by a distant bridge; the grand old mountains raise 
their wooded sides and isolated peaks on either hand ; 
while smiling valleys, in which flocks and herds are 
feeding, serve to heighten the enchantment of the 



LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 25 

scene. If delightful Alpine prospects have some tend- 
ency to invigorate and inspire the mind with vivid 
and original ideas, then certainly to the early home 
of the evangelist, may we not ascribe something of the 
vigor and strength of thought which he now manifests ? 

The house was built by Mr. Lyman P. Moody, who 
married Fanny Holton, sister of Mrs. Betsey (Holton) 
Moody ; and the parents of Dwight Lyman Moody came 
to live in it soon after their marriage on the 3d of 
January, 1828. 

The little district schoolhouse, painted red, stood 
near it ; and a short distance northerly the Squakeag 
Brook speeds merrily along into the river. 

The house was then supplied with water by an aque- 
duct from the mountains. 

Mr. Edwin Moody, father of the evangelist, was a 
strong, active, sensible man, who gained his livelihood 
by working at stone-masonry and at farming. In form 
and size his celebrated son resembles him. His wife 
was a good manager, and noted for her sterling womanly 
virtues ; so that for some time after marriage their home 
was prosperous, and they indulged the hope that the 
wants of their increasing family would be well sup- 
plied. But by an unfortunate speculation Mr. Moody 
lost a large part of his property ; and while engaged in 
laying stone on the twenty-eighth day of May, 1841, 
he was suddenly seized with illness of which in a few 
hours he died, — leaving a widow with six sons and a 
daughter, the oldest of whom was but thirteen years of 



26 



LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 




THE MOOD? AND THE HOLTON FAMILIES. 27 

age, and a homestead of a few acres which was heavily 
encumbered with debt. 

About a month subsequent to the decease of the 
father, a boy and a girl (twins) were added to the 
family. 

Dwight Lyman, who had been named from a friend 
of his father, was then a little more than four years 
old. " The first thing I remember, " says Mr. Moody 
in an impressive sermon on the Prodigal Son, " was the 
death of my father. It was a beautiful day in spring 
time, when he fell suddenly dead. The shock made 
such an impression on me, young as I was, that I shall 
never forget it. I remember nothing about the funeral; 
but his death has made a lasting impression on me." 

It was fortunate for him that he had a good mother. 
Almost all great men have had good mothers. Lamar- 
tine, Cowper, Way land, Washington, had good mothers. 
It is the mother's gentle hand that traces the key-words 
of its destiny on the heart of the little child ; it is the 
mother's approving voice that wakens aspiration in the 
soul. 

But, with nine small children in that fatherless home, 
what could Mrs. Moody hope to do ? 

With no income, with the burden of such a family, 
with no visible means of sustenance at her command, 
how could the very best of mothers keep from sinking 
under the oppressive weight? Whence were the food 
for so many little mouths, the shoes for so many little 
feet, to come ? 



28 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

To the God of the widow and the fatherless Mrs. 
Moody went ; and he sustained her. 

Some of her friends advised her to give a part of her 
little ones away. But a good mother loves to have her 
children at her side ; and so this noble woman deter- 
mined to keep them all at home, and by rigid economy 
feed and clothe them as she could. 

This period of her life was one of care and trial, 
such as the daughters of ease and affluence learn only 
from the fashionable romance ; but out of such experi- 
ence comes that nobility of soul that forms the fairest 
jewel in the crown of womanhood. 

She kept the older children steadily employed in 
cultivating the garden, picking berries, apples, and 
chestnuts, which are abundant in that region, or in 
rendering assistance to the farmers of the neighbor- 
hood, who made the boys a fair compensation for their 
labor. She found in her pastor, the Rev. Oliver Capen 
Everett, 1 a sympathizing friend who took a lively 
interest in the welfare of her family. Her brothers 
and sisters kindly aided her in her struggles to sustain 
the household; and thus by her own incessant toil and 
forethought, by some assistance from the hands of the 
older children, by the encouraging words and aid of 

1 He was the son of Otis Everett, and was born Aug. 20, 1811; H.C 
1832; settled over the church at Northfield March 8, 1837, and was 
dismissed JSTov. 26, 1848. He married May 25, 1837, Betsy, daughter of 
Daniel Weld of Boston, by whom he had Oliver Weld, Edward Erank- 
lin, Moses Williams, and Oliver Hurd. He was subsequently a minis- 
ter at large in Charlestown, Mass. 



THE MOODY AND THE HOLTON FAMILIES. 29 

her benevolent pastor, and the benefactions of her 
kindred, this brave woman managed to keep her 
fatherless group of boys and girls together, to send 
them to the little school near by, and to appear with 
them on the Lord's day in decent apparel at . Mr. 
Everett's church and sabbath school. 

It was the custom of Mrs. Moody to read and 
explain to her little ones the books which they brought 
home with them, and to instil into their tender minds 
the simple precepts of the gospel. She often repeated 
to them, as they were seated around the scanty board, 
some verse of Scripture, or of sacred poetry, which 
they said over till it was fairly fixed in memory. 

If quarrels arose among them, she would go away 
and pray for them ; and returning, as she subsequently 
said, " I found they would be all again good chil- 
dren." 

In such a pious, indigent mountain home, and under 
the counsel of such a mother, the great evangelist of 
these modern times passed his bo}~hood. 

In the hard school of poverty he had his early train- 
ing ; and for some minds this is the very best school. 

As he advanced in age he became more helpful to 
his widowed mother, and was in the main obedient to 
her commands. 

His health was good, his complexion ruddy, and his 
love of sport and play unbounded. Fearless and self- 
reliant, he used to climb the apple and the chestnut 
trees, coast down the hillsides, and engage in snow- 



30 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

ball contests with the larger boys, of whom he always 
longed to be the leader. 

For work or books or music he evinced no special 
inclination. He learned to read, he worked upon the 
little farm to please his mother. His genius lay con- 
cealed beneath the ebullition of his animal spirits ; and 
no one thought of him in his boyhood but as a rugged, 
headstrong, frolicsome lad, afraid of nothing, and 
always ready for some new prank or sport by which 
his wit or skill might be made manifest. 

At one time Mr. Everett invited him to come and 
live with him as a boy of all work about the house ; 
but the worthy minister soon found his patience tried 
by the innocent pranks and capers of his not very 
hopeful sabbath-school pupil, and returned him, after a 
few months' trial, to the counsels of his mother. Her 
heart was sometimes sorely tried with him ; yet he 
sincerely loved her, and, when the moment for reflec- 
tion came, was grieved at any pain he might have, in 
the exhilaration of his spirits, caused her. 

This affection for his mother was the golden chain 
that saved him. He seems in boyhood to have had 
but little regard for any of his teachers, or but little 
faith in God. He believed only in himself and his 
dear mother. " He used to think himself a man," said 
she, " when he was only a boy." Yet, though he was 
so self-reliant, he esteemed that mother as the load- 
stone of his early life. 

Once at least in those days he called on God for 



THE MOODY AND THE HOLTON FAMILIES. 31 

help. An old fence had fallen upon him when alone, 
and was holding him a captive. " I tried and tried," 
said he, "but could not lift the heavy rails. I hallooed 
for help; but nobody came. Then I thought I should 
have to die away up there on the mountain all alone. 
But I happened to think that maybe God would help 
me, and so I asked him ; and after that I could lift the 
rails." 

This is his first recorded prayer. How faithfully he 
used to perform his work in boyhood, may be inferred 
from one of his illustrations of the manner in which 
some people read the Bible. 

" When I was a boy," said he, " I worked on a farm ; 
and I hoed corn so poorly that when I left off I had to 
take a stick, and mark the place, so I could tell the 
next morning where I had stopped the night before. If 
I didn't, I would, likely as not, hoe the same row over 
again." 

He evidently was not fashioned for a farmer. His 
leading propensity, said one who knew him well in 
boyhood, was for sport ; and to be first in this, was 
ever his constant aim. It is related of him, that on 
the death of an old cat he determined to honor its 
remains by holding funeral services over them ; and so, 
inviting the children of the neighborhood together, he 
had the body borne into the schoolhouse near his home, 
and then performed himself the obsequies with an 
official dignity becoming the occasion. 

Another juvenile freak may here be mentioned in 
attestation of the buoyancy of his young blood. 



32 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

Following one day, with other boys, an honest 
farmer who was riding leisurely along, and noticing 
that he raised a jug of molasses-and-water to his lips 
to drink, young Moody hurled a ball, as quick as light- 
ning, at the horse, which starting suddenly broke the 
vessel by the shock, and spattered the contents over 
the poor man's face. The mischievous boy, however, 
immediately commiserated him on the mishap, and 
atoned for the offence by asking pardon, and promis- 
ing not to commit the same again. 

At one period he spent several months with his aunt, 
Mrs. Lewis Farrell, in the neighboring town of Green- 
field ; and while living there he actually bargained for 
a yoke of oxen for the homestead, under the impression 
that he could easily borrow money enough to pay for 
them. 

But his young life was not all sunshine. Unremitting 
labor, interrupted only now and then by a brief attend- 
ance at the district school, and by the sweet repose of 
the sacred sabbath, was the imperative necessity of his 
early days ; and sometimes the sickness of his beloved 
mother, or some other sad event, would cast a gloomy 
shade over the humble home, repressing levity, and lead- 
ing even the most buoyant to solicitude and reflection. 

Among the most painful occurrences in the history 
of this family was the sudden departure of the oldest 
son from home. Mr. Moody most touchingly relates 
the circumstances in illustration of the parable of the 
Prodigal Son. 



THE MOODY AND THE HOLTON FAMILIES. 33 

" My eldest brother, to whom my mother looked up 
to comfort her in her loneliness and in her great afflic- 
tion, became a wanderer: he left home. I need not 
tell how that mother mourned for her boy, how she 
waited day by day, and month by month, for his return. 
I need not say how night after night she watched and 
wept and prayed. Many a time we were told to go to 
the post-office to see if a letter had not come from 
him ; but we had to bring back the sorrowful words, 
'No letter yet, mother.' Many a time have I waked 
up, and heard my mother pray, * O God, bring back my 
boy ! ' Many a time did she lift her heart up to God 
in prayer for her boy. When the wintry gale would 
blow around the house, and the storm rage without the 
door, her dear face would wear a terribly anxious look, 
and she would utter, in piteous tones, ' O my dear 
boy ! perhaps he is now on the ocean this fearful night. 
O God, preserve him ! ' We would sit round the fire- 
side of an evening, and ask her to tell us about our 
father, and she would talk for hours about him ; but, if 
the mention of my eldest brother should chance to come 
in, then all would be hushed : she never spoke of him 
but with tears. Many a time did she try to conceal 
them, but all would be in vain ; and, when Thanks- 
giving Day would come, a chair used to be set for him. 

" Our friends and neighbors gave him up ; but our 
mother had faith that she would see him again. One 
day, in the middle of summer, a stranger was seen 
approaching the house. 



34 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

" He came up ou the east piazza, and looked upon 
my mother through the window. The man had a long 
beard ; and, when my mother first saw him, she did not 
start or rise. But, when she saw the great tears trick- 
ling down his cheeks, she cried, ' It's my boy, my dear, 
dear boy ! ' and sprang to the window. But there the 
boy stood, and said, ' Mother, I will never cross the 
threshold until you say you forgive me.' Do you think 
he had to stay there long ? No, no : her arms were 
soon around him, and she wept upon his shoulder, as 
did the father of the prodigal son. I heard of it while 
in a distant city, and what a thrill of joy shot through 
me I But what joy on earth can equal the joy in 
heaven when a prodigal comes home ? " 

An aptitude to learn the elements of literature at 
school in early life is by no means a sure indication of 
superior genius in the pupil. Many a boy, pronounced 
a dunce by his dogmatic teachers, has arisen to com- 
manding intellectual eminence. There are higher les- 
sons than the grammar and arithmetic afford; there 
are more potent voices than the schoolroom ever sends 
into the listening ear of boyhood. A mother's love, 
for instance, touches chords within the soul which even 
the most faithful teacher never reaches. Then, too, 
the book of this grand, living, mysterious nature, so 
fresh, so varied, and so charming, wakens thought and 
aspiration in the plastic soul, and gives to it the ele- 
ments of such an education as the most assiduous drill- 



THE MOODY AND THE HOLTON FAMILIES. 35 

ing in the schools can never, of itself alone, impart. 
The schools can make a doctor of divinity, but never a 
divine. 

It is a mistake to say that Dwight Lyman Moody 
is uneducated. Of scholastic training he had, indeed, 
not much, for the lessons of his school-teachers — Mr. 
Bruce and others — were generally unheeded ; yet 
even in his earliest boyhood he was a quick and 
keen observer of the strange and busy world around 
him. The tender lessons of his mother were not lost 
on him ; the sorrows of his family sunk through the 
effervescence of his spirits, deep into his heart. The 
tolling of the death-bell, the roar of the mountain 
wind, the fall of the snowflake, the germination of 
the seed in springtime, the flight of the birds, the 
rustling of the leaves in autumn, the current of the 
noble river, the flowing tide of busy life in Northfield, 
bright in hope, or dark in sorrow, made indelible 
impressions on his mind. 

He received such teachings, pondered over them till 
they became a part of his own being. He was a 
learner in the higher sense, — taking his instructions 
fresh and free, instead of second-hand through books, 
from life and nature. Hence his originality and power. 
His apt allusions to the scenes and incidents of his 
early days, his line illustrations drawn from memories of 
childhood, clearly show that he was then a learner, — ■ 
I had almost said the learner of that period, — and that 
something higher and nobler than what the schools 



36 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

alone can teach is needed for the attainment of com- 
manding power over the minds of men. 

This he acquired in part while nurtured in the 
pinching penury of his mountain home. 

Though joyous in his temperament, restive and sur- 
charged with the love of fun and frolic, young Moody 
was not really vicious ; and it is erroneous to suppose 
that he had no deep religious impressions in his early 
days. The atmosphere he breathed was flavored with 
religion. The words of his dear mother were choice 
seeds of truth sown in his heart. The instructions of 
the sabbath school, the prayers of Mr. Everett, with 
here and there a word of Christian counsel, the vicis- 
situdes of life, and the doings of death around him, 
served sometimes to turn his thoughts to serious things, 
to awaken aspirations after goodness, and to enrich his 
soul with imagery and emotions which he now recalls 
with fine effect for the illustration of religious truth. 

" I remember when I was a boy," said Mr. Moody 
in one of his effective sermons, " I went several miles 
from home with an older brother. That seemed to 
me the longest visit of my life. It seemed that I was 
then farther away from home than I had ever been 
before, or have ever been since. While we were walk- 
ing down the street, we saw an old man coming toward 
us ; and my brother said, ' There is a man who will 
give you a cent. He gives every new boy that comes 
into this town a cent.' That was my first visit to the 
town ; and when the old man got opposite to us he 



THE MOODY AND THE HOLTON FAMILIES. 37 

looked around, and my brother not wishing me to lose 
the cent, and to remind the old man that I had not 
received it, told him that I was a new boy in the town. 
The old man, taking off my hat, placed his trembling 
hand on my head, and told me I had a Father in heaven. 
It was a kind, simple act, but I feel the pressure of the 
old man's hand upon my head to-day." 

The impression which the village bell, when tolling 
out the number of the years that any one deceased 
had lived, made on his mind, is thus vividly referred 
to : " I well remember how I used to look on Death 
as a terrible monster ; how he used to throw his dark 
shadow across my path ; how I trembled as I thought 
of the terrible hour when he should come for me ; how 
I thought I should like to die of some lingering disease, 
such as consumption, so that I might know when he 
was coming. It was the custom in our village to toll 
from the old church bell the age of any one who had 
died. Death never entered that village, and tore away 
one of the inhabitants, but I counted the tolling of the 
bell. Sometimes it was seventy, sometimes eighty, 
sometimes it would be away down among the teens, 
sometimes it would toll out the death of some one of 
my own age. It made a solemn impression upon me. 
I felt a coward then. I thought of the cold hand of 
Death feeling for the cords of life. I thought of being 
launched forth to spend my eternity in an unknown 
land. 

" As I looked into the grave, and saw the sexton 



38 LIFE OF DWIGHT -LYMAN MOODY. 

throw the earth on the coffin-licl, c Earth to earth, 
ashes to ashes, dust to dust,' it seemed like the death- 
knell to my soul. But that is all changed now. The 
grave has lost its terror. As I go on towards heaven, I 
can shout, ' O death ! where is thy sting ? ' and I hear 
the answer rolling down from Calvary, ; Buried in the 
bosom of the Son of God.' " 

The flower-bud of religion had not then appeared ik 
his heart ; but the sod was broken, and the seed wa* 
germinating. 

A story told to young Moody by a farmer working 
with him left a very serious impression on his mind, 
and may be considered as one of the many influences 
that led to his conversion. 

"Before I left the farm," says the evangelist, "I 
was talking one day to a man who was working there, 
and who was weeping. I said to him, ' What is the 
trouble ? ' And he told me a very strange story. 
When he started in life, he left his native village, and 
went to another town to find something to do, and was 
unsuccessful. The first sabbath he went to a little 
church ; and the minister preached from the text, 
1 Seek ye first the kingdom of God ; ' and he thought 
the text and the sermon were for him. He wanted to 
get rich ; and, when he was settled in life, he would 
seek the kingdom of God. He went on, and the next 
sabbath he was in another village. It was not long 
before he heard another minister preach from the same 
text, ' Seek ye first the kingdom of God.' He thought 



THE MOODY AND THE HOLTON FAMILIES. 39 

surely some one must have been speaking to the min- 
ister about him ; for the minister just pictured him 
out. But he saicl, when he got settled in life, and had 
control of his time, and was his own master, he would 
then seek the kingdom of God. 

" Some time after, he was at another village, and here 
went to church again ; and he had not been going a 
great while when he heard the third minister preach 
from the same text : ' Seek ye first the kingdom of 
God, and his righteousness," and all things else shall be 
added.' He said it went right down into his soul ; 
but he calmly and deliberately made up his mind that 
he would not become a Christian until he had got set- 
tled in life, and owned his farm. This man said, ' Now 
I am what the world calls rich. I go to church every 
Sunday ; but I have never heard a sermon, from that 
day to this, which has ever made any impression on 
my heart. My heart is as hard as a stone.' As he said 
that, tears trickled down his cheeks. I was a young 
man, and did not know what it meant. When I was 
converted I thought, when I should go back home, 1 
would see this man, and preach Christ to him. When 
I went back home, I said to my widowed mother, nam- 
ing the man, i Is he still living in the same place ? ' 
My mother said, * He is gone mad, and has been taken 
away to the insane-asylum ; and to every one that goes 
to see him he points his finger, and says, " Seek ye first 
the kingdom of God." ' I thought I should like to see 
him ; but he was so far gone it would do no good. 



40 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

The next time I went Lome he was at his home, idiotic. 
I went to see him. "When I went in I said, ' Do you 
know me ? ' Pie pointed his finger at me, and said, 
4 Young man, seek ye first the kingdom of God.' God 
had driven the text into his mind, but his reason was 
gone. Three years ago, when I visited my father's 
grave, I noticed a new stone had been put up. I 
stopped, and found it was my friend's. The autumn 
wind seemed whispering that text, ' Seek ye first the 
kingdom of God.' " 



CHAPTER II. 



ME. MOODY AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN.— A CLERK IN BOSTON. 

— UNITES WITH THE CHUECH. — HIS ANXIETY TO SPEAK IN 
EELIGIOUS MEETINGS. — EEMOVES TO CHICAGO.— EAELY MIS SION- 
AEY WORK. 

Young Moody leaves School. — A Clerk in his Uncle Holton's Store. — 
Conditions on which he entered it. — He attends Mount Yernon 
Church and Sabbath School. — His Personal Appearance at this 
Time. — Letter from Home. — He is visited by Mr. Kimball, and 
converted. — How he repays Mr. Kimball for his Kindness. — 
Notice of his Speaking in the Meetings. — He is examined and 
admitted into Dr. Kirk's Church. — Deacon Palmer at Exeter Hall 
in London. — Dr. Kirk's Opinion. — Young Moody removes to 
Chicago. — The Advantages he derived from living in Boston. — 
His Opinion of the City. — He joins the Rev. J. E. Roy's Church. 

— Engages in Recruiting-Service for the Sabbath School. 

" God is able to make him stand." — St. Paul. 

" Oh, happy day that fixed my choice 
On thee, my Saviour and my God! 
Well may this glowing heart rejoice, 
And tell its raptures all abroad." — Dr. Doddridge. 

In the midst of such circumstances, and under such 
influences, this country lad grew up till the age of 
seventeen years. He was compactly built, robust and 
vigorous, self-reliant, reckless ; yet attentive to his 
mother's wishes, and always ready to confess his errors 

41 



42 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

During his last term at the winter school, he had an 
altercation with his teacher, who decided to expel him; 
but, his mother interceding in the matter, he promised 
to amend, and so for the first time applied himself to 
study. He continued docile until the session, and with 
it his scholastic education, closed. 

He then determined to seek his fortune in the world. 

Elate with hope, he invested himself in his best 
clothes, bade his mother good-by, and, with a few 
dollars in his pocket, left the beautiful scenes of his 
boyhood, and took the cars for Boston. On arriving in 
the city, he made his way to the shoe-store of his 
uncle, Samuel S. Holton, who then was doing business 
at No. 43 Court Street. On a visit to Northfield the 
preceding winter, Mr. Holton had declined to receive 
young Moody into his establishment, fearing that his 
waywardness rnider the temptations of the city might 
result in trouble : his surprise was therefore great on 
seeing the verdant youth before him at his counter. 
He inquired kindly as to the welfare of the family, but 
did not offer Dwight a place ; and he himself had too 
much pride to make again solicitation. Disappointed in 
his expectations, he set himself to searching through the 
city, as many a youth has done in vain, for some kind 
of employment. Every place seemed to be filled ; and 
the hard word, " No one wanted here," met him at 
every application. 

He went over, and tried the City of Lowell with no 
better success. He then resolved to travel on foot (for 



MB. MOODY AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN. 43 

his funds were running low) to New York City, in which 
perhaps he might find fortune more propitious ; when 
happening to discuss the matter with another uncle, 
Mr. Lemuel Holton, in whose house he lodged at night, 
a conversation similar to this ensued: "Why don't 
you ask your uncle Samuel for a situation?" — 
"Because," replied the high-spirited youth, "I think 
he ought to make the offer himself." — "But," con- 
tinued his uncle, " if you consider the place worth 
having, then certainly it is worth asking for. Go and 
ask for it." — " He ought to ask me," rejoined the boy ; 
but, his pride somewhat abating by the recollection of 
his unsuccessful efforts, he added, " I'll go and see 
him." He went; and his uncle Samuel, who felt the 
liveliest interest in his welfare, agreed to take him into 
his store on these four conditions : namely, that he 
should board in such a family as Mr. Holton, who had 
then removed to Winchester, should approve ; that he 
should attend the Mount Vernon Church and sabbath 
school ; that he should not visit questionable places of 
amusement ; and that he should be guided by the ad- 
vice of his employer. These were reasonable require- 
ments; to them Mr. Holton's wayward nephew read- 
ily assented, and commenced his labors as a boy of 
all work in the store. He boarded for a while with 
Deacon Levi Bowers, in Allen Street ; and afterwards 
with Mrs. David Beal, a pious lady, then living at No. 
5 Eaton Street. 
A photograph of the young clerk, taken at this 



44 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

period, is preserved. He appears in an overcoat but- 
toned up to the neck, and a high cloth cap, with a 
beardless face expressive of the satisfaction which his 
good looks and his handsome dress afforded him. 

In the store he soon made himself decidedly useful, 
and became a salesman. He exhibited the three prime 
qualities of a good clerk, — obedience, honesty, activ- 
ity ; and his uncle had no reason to complain to him of 
any failure to fulfil the four conditions under which he 
received him into his employ. 

His wages were but small ; and, with his love of 
dress, he often found his pockets empty. 

His home at Northfield he kept constantly in 
memory ; and his greatest source of comfort was the 
reception of a letter from some member of the family. 

" I remember," says he in one of his most charac- 
teristic sermons, " when I first left home, and went to 
Boston, I had spent all my money ; and I went to the 
post-office three times a day. I knew there was only 
one mail a day from home ; but I thought, by some 
possibility, there might be a letter for me. At last I 
got a letter from my little sister, and I was awful glad 
to get it. She had heard that there were a great many 
pickpockets in Boston ; and a large part of that letter 
was to have me be very careful not to let anybody 
pick my pocket. Now, I had got to have something in 
my pocket in order to have it picked. So you have 
got to have salvation before you can work it out." 

Young Moody attended the Mount Vernon Church, 



ME. MOODY AT THE AGE OP SEVENTEEN. - 45 

then one of the most progressive in the city, and lis- 
tened with more or less attention to the sermons of its 
eloquent pastor. He also entered a sabbath-school 
class taught by Mr. Edward Kimball, an earnest and 
intelligent Christian. For some time he was a silent 
pupil ; but one day he arrested the attention of his 
teacher by the odd question, " That Moses was what 
you call a pretty smart man, wasn't he ? " Mr. Kim- 
ball then resolved to visit his country pupil at his 
place of business. He entered Mr. Holton's store, and 
in his friendly manner laid his hand on young Moody's 
shoulder. The touch went to his heart. " I can feel," 
says the evangelist, " the touch of that man's hand on 
my shoulder even yet." After some inquiries, Mr. 
Kimball said to him, " Will you not give your heart to 
Jesus ? " 

That question moved the soul of the attentive clerk : 
it led him to desire to be a Christian. It was the pivot, 
as it were, on which his destiny was hinging. " Yes," 
mused he with himself, " I will consecrate myself to 
the service of my God ; " and that decision, made in 
earnest, was soon followed by a declaration of his 
intent to live a Christian life, and to induce other men 
to follow his example. 

Of the kindly interest Mr. Kimball manifested in his 
spiritual welfare, Mr. Moody always speaks with deep 
emotion ; and nothing ever gave him more pleasure 
than to see two of his sabbath-school teacher's children 
come to Christ through his own persuasion. 



46 



LIEE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 




MOUNT VERNON CHURCH. 



MR. MOODY AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN. 47 

" I am glad to see you," said Mr. Moody after one 
of his services, to a young man who introduced himself 
as a son of Mr. Kimball. " Are you a Christian ? " 

" No, sir." 

" How old are you ? " 

" Seventeen years." 

" Just my age when your father led me to the 
Saviour; and that was just seventeen years ago this 
very day. Now I desire to pay him by leading his son 
to Christ. Come, let us pray together." Soon after- 
wards the son of Mr. Kimball became a Christian. 

When young Moody had decided on a religious 
course of life, he at once resolved to let his light shine 
forth. He commenced speaking in the social meetings, 
but his ungrammatical words and broken sentences 
were not always acceptable ; he had more in his heart 
than he could express in language. He met with 
many obstacles in the beginning of his life in Christ. 
His uncle Samuel and his excellent aunt Holton, how- 
ever, encouraged him to continue in the course that he 
had chosen : so he went on telling his friends what 
Christ had done for his soul, as he had opportunity, and 
on the 16th of May, 1855, applied for admission to the 
church. He was examined by the committee ; but, fail- 
ing to satisfy them as to the genuineness of his conver- 
sion, he was kindly advised to wait a while in order 
that they might give the subject more consideration. 
In the roughness of the setting, the diamond was not 
discovered; and he certainly at that time had but a 



48 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

limited knowledge of the principles of Christianity. 
The committee acted wisely, and courteously proffered 
to him instruction for which he is ever grateful. This 
delay in receiving him into fellowship Mr. Moody now 
considers one of the most fortunate circumstances of 
his life. He was again examined March 12, 1856, and 
admitted to the church. 

One of the committee said recently, in a letter to a 
friend, " I am glad to sit at his feet, and learn now how 
to serve our Lord and Master." l 



1 The record of Mr. Moody's examination is copied from the church 
register. The language here used indicates more knowledge of religion 
than he then possessed; for the statements were put in the form of 
questions by the committee, to which he replied in general by the 
monosyllables "yes" or "no." 

"No. 1079. Dwight L. Moody. — Boards 43 Court St. Has been baptized. First 
awakened on the 21st April [16th May]. Became anxious about himself . Saw him- 
self a sinner ; and sin now seems hateful, and holiness desirable. Thinks he has 
repented. Has purposed to give up sin. Feels dependent upon Christ for forgive- 
ness. Loves the Scriptures. Prays once a day. Desires to be useful. Beligiously 
educated. Been in the city a year. From Northfield, this State. Is not ashamed 
to be known as a Christian. 18 years old. 

" No. 1131. March 12, 1856. — Thinks he has made some progress since he was 
here before, — at least in knowledge. Was then very ignorant of the Bible. Has 
maintained his habits of prayer and reading the Bible. Believes God will hear his 
prayers. Does not think of Christ as often as he ought. Believes Christ has suf- 
fered a great deal for us, but does not feel it much. Is fully determined to adhere 
to the cause of Christ always. Feels that it would be very bad if he should join 
the Church and then turn. Thinks he cannot live without sinning. Must repent 
of sin, and ask forgiveness for Christ's sake. Will never give up his hope, or love 
Christ less, whether admitted to the Church or not. His prevailing intention is to 
give up his will to God. 

"Admitted May 4, 1856. 



ME. MOODY AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN. 49 

It is related by Dr. Savage of Chicago, that at the 
close of one of Mr. Moody's great meetings in Exeter 
Hall, London, he exclaimed in his blunt way, — 

" I see in the house an eminent Christian gentleman 
from Boston. Deacon Palmer, come right forward to 
the platform: the people want to hear from you." 
Keluctantly the deacon came upon the platform, and 
began by saying that he had known Mr. Moody at 
home, and, had, indeed belonged to the same church 
with him ; when Mr. Moody, suddenly interrupting 
him, cried out, " Yes, deacon ; and you kept me out of 
that church for many months, because you thought I 
did not know enough to join it." 

When the laughter of the audience had subsided, 
Deacon Palmer happily replied, that " all must agree 
with him that it was a great privilege to have received 
Mr. Moody into the church at all, even though with 
great misgivings and after long delay." 

It is not true that Dr. Kirk or any member of his 
church advised Mr. Moody not to speak in the meet- 
ing. In a letter referring to this point, and signed by 
Messrs. A. Cushing, J. W. Kimball, J. M. Pinkerton, 
J. S. Ward, J. D. Leland, and J. C. Tyler, members of 
that church, they say, " We have no reason to believe 
that either the pastor or any member of the church 
ever by word or act discouraged his efforts." The first 
time Mr. Moody spoke in public, after his conversion, 
was at a city mission meeting among the poor at the 
North End. It was after his removal to Chicago, that 
he was advised not to speak in public. 



50 LIFE OF DWTGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

On seeing the work of the evangelist in Chicago, 
several years ago, Dr. Kirk said on his return to Mr. 
Samuel S. Holton, " I told our people last night that 
we ought to be ashamed of ourselves for our inactivity. 
There is that young Moody, who we thought did not 
know enough to be a member of our church, exerting 
a greater influence for Christ than any other man in 
the great North-West." 

Still it must be borne in mind, that Mr. Moody gave 
the church but little reason to hope that he would be- 
come an eminent Christian worker. " I can truly say," 
writes Mr. Edward Kimball, " and in saying it I mag- 
nify the infinite grace of God as bestowed upon him, 
that I have seen few persons whose minds were spiritu- 
ally darker than was his when he came into my Sun- 
day-school class; and I think the committee of the 
Mount Vernon Church seldom met an applicant for 
membership more unlikely ever to become a Christian 
of clear and decided views of gospel truth, still less 
to fill any extended sphere of public usefulness." Mr. 
Moody remained in my class about two years, till he 
bade me good-by on leaving Boston for Chicago. 

Boston proved to be a very good school for this rustic 
youth. In body, mind, and manners, he arose during his 
two and a half years' residence here to a higher stand- 
ard. He also acquired the art of selling goods with 
alacrity, and in accordance with the Golden Rule. His 
uncles, Samuel S. and Lemuel Holton, were men of 
probity and piety. He was led by their example, as 



ME. MOODY AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN. 51 

well as counsel, to deal honestly, to live soberly, and 
to cherish an aspiration not only to do good, but also 
to be good. The eloquence of his pastor, Dr. Kirk, 
enchanted him ; and Mr. Kimball's kind solicitations for 
his spiritual welfare touched his heart. 

The anti-slavery question, then intensely agitated in 
the city, awakened his attention ; and he boldly advo- 
cated in his way the liberation of the bondman. Dur- 
ing the presidential campaign in 1856, he took a lively 
interest in the contest, and was often seen in front of 
Mr. Holton's store distributing or selling the portrait 
of John C. Fremont to the people as they passed along 
the street. His companions, Palmer, Gale, and others, 
exercised a benign influence over him ; his rude at- 
tempts at speaking in the social meetings quickened 
his intellectual faculties; and the whole tenor of Boston 
life, as he beheld it, tended to the improvement of his 
manners and his heart : so that when he left the city 
for Chicago he had reached a much higher level than 
he occupied when he went forth from his widowed 
mother's home, in 1855, to seek his fortune in the 
world. He was, moreover, a Christian with a will to 
dare and a hand to do any thing to which the Lord 
might call him. Under one point of view, Boston was 
the university in which he studied: it is the place 
where he was converted, and where he began to exer- 
cise his wonderful gift as a public speaker. Nor were 
his rude utterances here entirely fruitless ; for he says 
in one of his recent discourses : — 



52 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

"I remember once, when I was first converted, I 
spoke in a sabbath school, and there seemed to be a 
great deal of interest, and quite a number rose for 
prayer ; and I remember I went out quite rejoiced. 
But an old man followed me out : I have never seen 
him since ; he caught hold of my hand, and gave me a 
little bit of advice. I didn't know what he meant at 
the time, but he said, ' Young man, when you speak 
again, honor the Holy Ghost.' I was hastening off to 
another church to speak ; and, all the way over, it kept 
ringing in my ears, — ' Honor the Holy Ghost.' " 

Though his heart beats warmly towards the city of 
Chicago, where so much of his life's work has been 
accomplished, Mr. Moody will ever love Boston as the 
spot where he first gave himself to the service of his 
Master ; and he doubtless feels in the hearty welcome 
which he now receives, and in the eagerness with 
which all classes throng to hear him, ample com- 
pensation for any want of sympathy he might have 
once experienced. From 1856 to 1877, perhaps no 
living man has made a change so unexpected and so 
wonderful. 

Of Boston he would now perhaps in spirit say, " In 
a certain sense, I look upon it as my home. Entering 
it when a boy in search of an occupation, and gaining 
here my first knowledge of men and business, as well 
as of that religion which has since been such a joy to 
me, I cannot hear the dear old city named, but that 
some memories of my early life will come to me that 



MR. MOODY AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN. 53 

I shall always cherish. Though, during many years 
past, other places and other associations have occu- 
pied my mind, still neither these, nor the lapse of time 
itself, haye lessened the deep interest I feel in Boston." 

It was in September, 1856, that young Moody, then 
in his twentieth year, made up his mind to seek his 
fortune in the rising city of Chicago; and on his 
arrival there he easily found a situation as a salesman 
in the boot and shoe store of Mr. Wiswall on Lake 
Street. It has been stated that the unkindly criticisms 
he received in Boston led him to go West ; yet the love 
of adventure, coupled with the hope of making money, 
was undoubtedly the real motive. 

Soon after his arrival in Chicago he united by letter 
with the Plymouth Congregational Church, and began 
to speak in the sabbath school and social meetings. 
Though his uncouth language sometimes gave offence, 
his originality and force were at once admitted. He 
hired four pews in the Plymouth Church, and hunted 
up young men and boys to fill them. This was the 
commencement of that missionary work of which he 
subsequently became the apostle in Chicago. But he 
longed to be a teacher, and he soon opened himself the 
way for it. 

Entering a little Sunday school in North Wells Street, 
he said to the superintendent, — 

"Would you, sir, like to have another teacher 
here?" 

" No, I thank you," he replied : " we have almost as 
many teachers now as pupils." 



54 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

" There is, then, no chance for me ? " 

" Yes, indeed there is, if you will bring your pupils 
with you." 

The face of the young salesman brightened as he left 
the school ; and on the following sabbath he returned 
to it, attended by nearly a score of ragged children that 
he had recruited from the lanes and highways of the 
city ; and with this motley group he began his work as 
a teacher in the sabbath school, averring, that, since 
these neglected ones had souls to save, it was the duty 
of the Christian " to go in for them." 



CHAPTER III. 

i. MOODY'S FIRST MISSION-SCHOOL. — HIS NORTH MARKET SCHOOL. 
— ANECDOTES. -HIS ARMY WORK. 

r. Moody's Study of the Bible. — His Mission. — His Business Rela- 
tions. — His School at the Rookery. — His Method of managing it. — 
Description of the School. —Mr. Reynolds's Opinion. — Recruiting 
for Pupils. — Removal to the Hall of North Market. — J. V. Farwell, 
Superintendent. — Increase of the School. — Energy of Mr. Moody. 

— His Character as a Man of Business. — He pays a Bill for a Cus- 
tomer. — He devotes his Whole Time to God. — His Life in Danger. 

— An Assault. — One Idea. — Interview with Infidels. — Prayer in a 
Saloon. — A Drunkard saved. — Interview with Bishop Duggan. — 
Thanksgiving at the Rookery. — Visit of Mr. Lincoln. — Prayer in 
the Cars. — The Old Pony. —Mr. Moody's Army Life. — Marriage. 

— Answer to Prayer. — Chapel. — Entrance into Richmond. 



: Go out into the highways and hedges, 



and compel them to come in." 

Jesus Christ. 



" Only an armor-bearer, now in the field, 
Guarding a shining helmet, sword, and shield ; 
"Waiting to hear the thrilling battle-cry, 
Ready then to answer, ' Master, here am I.' " — P. P. Bliss. 



The city of Chicago, then containing about 175,000 
people of various nationalities, little dreamed of the 
benison it was receiving when the young Christian 
clerk, D wight L. Moody, entered it. Rough and ignor- 
ant, to be sure, he was; but his counsellor was the 

55 



56 LIFE OF DWTGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

Lord, his guide the Bible. This precious book he 
carried in his bosom ; he studied it as a message sent 
direct to him from heaven. He received its teachings, 
not as questionable or mythical, but as real, practical, 
and obligatory. It was the voice of God speaking into 
the innermost chambers of his soul. It meant precise- 
ly what it said ; and this he felt must be translated by 
him, just as far as he had power, into immediate prac- 
tice. He was and is emphatically a man of One 
Book, and this the best one. By it his ends were 
shaped, by it his mental powers were quickened, by it 
his steps were guided. 

It is true that Mr. Moody at this period was but a 
novice in religion, but a tyro in the study of the 
Scripture ; but he had found out and felt the grandeur 
of the truth that every man, however abject and im- 
mured in sensualism, had an immortal soul in need of 
cleansing, and that he himself was sent into the world 
to labor as he could, and where he could, to bring any 
that would hear him to a knowledge of the Saviour. 

His time, however, was mostly engrossed as a sales- 
man in the Lake-street store, where he evinced that 
good practical common sense and capacity for business 
which secured the approbation of his employer. On 
being promoted to a position in the jobbing department 
of the store, Mr. Moody found, while seeking customers 
at various public places in the city, more opportunities 
to work for Jesus ; and, happening to make the ac- 
quaintance of J. B. Stillson in the spring of 1857, the 



ME. MOODY'S FIRST MISSION-SCHOOL, 57 

two, as Paul and Silas, toiled together for the Lord ; 
and visiting, as they could, the poor and destitute, 
assisted in establishing or augmenting many mission 
sabbath schools during the ensuing season. 

But this was not enough for the irrepressible evan- 
gelist : he desired to have a sabbath school of his own ; 
and so, plunging in amongst gambling-dens and other 
vicious haunts of the notorious " Sands " in the north- 
ern section of the city, he hired a wretched old saloon 
for a school on Sundays and for meetings in the even- 
ing. 

This was the roughest section, the " Five Points,'' of 
Chicago : the people were rude, intemperate, degraded ; 
the children ragged, rollicksome, and unmanageable. 
They could be brought into the school only by the 
distribution of sugar-plums, toys, and other kindred 
allurements ; they could be kept in school only by the 
most dexterous management. As to order, that was 
at first out of the question. They could neither read 
nor write ; they knew nothing of restraint or of good 
behavior. They came together a disorderly mob of 
mischievous urchins, unwashed, unkempt, uncivilized, 
and ready for any kind of roguery. What could be 
done in that old rickety building, destitute of seats 
or any of the furniture of the modern sabbath school ? 
Well, the tact and energy that gathered them from 
their miserable homes controlled and gradually inter- 
ested them. Mr. Moody in his heart loved children : 
he understood them ; he had patience to bear with 



58 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

them ; and he soon found the means of making them 
love him. By the aid of music from his friend Tru- 
deau, of stories by himself, of prayers when he could 
keep them still enough to hear, of maple sugar, of 
pictures and apt speeches from good Mr. Stillson, he 
by degrees succeeded in bringing order out of chaos, 
in gaining the affection of his pupils, and in making 
his mission-school the sensation of that degraded sec- 
tion of the city. 

" The first meeting I ever saw him at," said Mr. 
Eeynolds recently, " was in a little old shanty that had 
been abandoned by a saloon-keeper. Mr. Moody had 
got the place to hold a meeting in at night. I went 
there a little late ; and the first thing I saw was a man 
standing up with a few tallow candles around him, hold- 
ing a negro boy, and trying to read to him the story of 
the Prodigal Son ; and a great many words he could 
not make out, and had to skip. I thought, ' If the Lord 
can ever use such an instrument as that for his honor 
and glory, it will astonish me.' After that meeting was 
over, Mr. Moody said to me, ' Reynolds, I have got 
only one talent ; I have no education ; but I love the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and I want to do something for 
him : I want you to pray for me.' I have never ceased, 
from that day to this, to pray for that devoted Chris- 
tian soldier. I have watched him since then, have had 
counsel with him, and know him thoroughly ; and, for 
consistent walk and conversation, I have never met a 
man to equal him. It astounds me to look back and 



ME. MOODY'S NOETH MAEKET SCHOOL. 59 

see what Mr. Moody was thirteen years ago, and then 
what he is under God to-day, — shaking Scotland to its 
very centre, and reaching now over to Ireland. The 
last time I heard from him, his injunction was, ' Pray 
for me every day ; pray now that God will keep me 
humble.' " 

Mr. Moody looked upon every boy and girl, however 
rude and ragged, as a jewel for him to seek, save, and 
finally present to his Lord &nd Master. Hence he 
entered fearlessly the dens of infamy in search of 
them ; he induced some of his Christian friends to do 
the same ; his school continued to increase in numbers 
and in popularity ; a larger room was needed, and at 
length permission was obtained of Mayor Haines to 
occupy the ample hall of the old North Market. This 
was used for dancing, and there were in it no chairs 
nor benches ; so that the motley group was obliged to 
stand beside the walls, or sit promiscuously, as in the 
Eastern climes, upon the floor. A prominent Christian 
merchant, Mr. John V. Farwell, lent his aid to furnish 
the hall with seats ; and, on visiting the school the 
ensuing sabbath, was surprised to hear himself nomi- 
nated by Mr. Moody, and appointed by the clamorous 
throng, their superintendent. He had the grace to 
accept the office. This enabled Mr. Moody and his 
co-worker Stillson to scour the wretched region called 
" the Sands " for raw recruits ; and so effectually did 
they labor in this line, so persistently did they hold 
prayer-meetings in every shanty and saloon to which 



60 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

they gained access, so wisely did they select instructors, 
and so admirably, in conjunction with their generous 
superintendent and Mr. Trudeau the sweet singer, did 
they manage the school, that within a year it had 
an average number of more than six hundred pupils. 
These were divided into as many as eighty classes, 
which teachers from the various churches in the city 
volunteered to instruct. The school became a curiosity, 
and at every session there were persons present who 
had come from far to see it. " The city missionary," 
says Mr. Stillson, " began to be alarmed for it, lest, 
being worked at such a high pressure, it should blow 
up." But the sterling sense of Deacon Moody, as the 
children called him, was a guaranty for that. During 
the six years of its existence, it is estimated that an 
average of about two thousand children annually 
belonged to it ; and who but God can tell the fruit that 
seeds of truth there sown shall bring ? 

The history of that North Market Mission School is 
more like a romance than a reality. It was carried on 
by men who had burning in their hearts the principle 
that Christ came to save the lost, and that it is the 
duty of the follower of Christ to go and seek for them. 
The stirring incidents in that special work would fill a 
volume. Of Mr. Moody's energy in his school, one 
writer says , " I have rarely beheld such a scene of 
high-pressure evangelization. It made me think irre- 
sistibly of those breathing steamboats on the Missis- 
sippi, that must either go fast or burst. Mr. Moody 



ME. MOODY'S NORTH MARKET SCHOOL. 61 

himself moved energetically about the school most of 
the time, seeing that everybody was at work, throwing 
in a word where he thought it necessary, and inspiring 
every one with his own enthusiasm. As soon as the 
classes had been going on for a specific number of min- 
utes, he mounted a platform, rang a bell, and addressed 
the children. He is a keen, dark-eyed man, with a 
somewhat shrill voice, but with thorough earnestness 
of manner and delivery. His remarks were few, but 
pointed and full of interrogation." 

As Mr. Moody could not hold evening services in the 
hall, he repaired to his old saloon ; and calling the 
abandoned and the lost together, and placing a police- 
man at the door, he by heartfelt appeals, suited to their 
various capacities, implored them to leave their vicious 
courses, and commence a new life in Jesus. 

It is to be remembered, that while Mr. Moody was 
carrying on this efficient work for Christ, he was still 
performing his full share of business in the jobbing 
department of the Lake-street store. He was ever on 
the alert for customers, and as sharp as steel at a bar- 
gain, although no one ever charged him with dishon- 
esty. One of his old employers said, — 

" We regarded him as an excellent salesman, but a 
poor judge of credits. In one particular instance he 
sold goods amounting to over two hundred dollars, to a 
man whom we found rated as * doubtful ' in the Mer- 
cantile Directory ; and we therefore refused to send the 



62 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

goods. But Moody at once came to the rescue of his 
customer, declared him to be as good as the Bank of 
England, and offered to be responsible for the bill. On 
this we sent the goods ; and when the money was due, 
sure enough, it was Moody who paid it." 

In 1858 he entered the store of Mr. C. N. Henderson, 
and became to some extent a commercial traveller; 
always arranging his business, however, so as to be 
at home to manage his beloved mission-school on the 
sabbath. In the mean time he continued to study, as 
he could, the Bible. Other books, such as " The Life of 
Trust," were recommended to him : he would turn over 
a few pages, and then again take up his precious Bible. 

When not engaged in business in the store, he was 
often still and thoughtful ; but, on entering the room 
occupied by himself and several other clerks at night, 
he would engage with them in practical jokes and lively 
conversation, always, however, advocating total absti- 
nence, and denouncing any amusement that might lead 
to habits of dissipation. On retiring to rest, he used 
to open his well-worn Testament, and read himself to 
sleep. u This," said one of the number to the writer, 
"was then, with us (bad grammar excepted), his only 
singularity." 

After the death of Mr. Henderson, Mr. Moody went 
into the store of Buel, Hill, and Granger ; but, finding 
his love of missionary work increasing, he at length 
concluded to devote his whole time to it, trusting in 
the Lord for his support. 



ME. MOODY'S NORTH MARKET SCHOOL. 63 

" I have decided," said he to Mr. B. F. Jacobs, "to 
give to God all my time." 

" But how are you going to live ? " replied his friend. 

" God will provide for me, if he wishes me to keep 
on ; and I shall keep on till I am obliged to stop." 

" He left our house," said Mr. Hill, " under the pleas- 
antest circumstances, having maintained his Christian 
character unblemished ; and we all bade him God-speed 
in the work to which we believe he was called." 

Not money, not emolument, not fame, but the North 
Market Mission-School, was the object of his thought ; 
the recovery of the lost, his spring of action. The 
incidents connected with that school are, as I have 
already said, almost romantic. Although the bare- 
footed and ill-fed children soon came to love their ben- 
efactor, and to speak of him as their " Deacon Moody," 
the parents sometimes interfered with his benevolent 
plans, and caused him to escape from their wretched 
haunts for his life. Three ruffians once confronted him 
as he was looking after the wild urchins, and resolved 
to kill him. 

u Look here," said he to them, "just give a fellow 
a chance to say his prayers, won't you ? " 

" Oh, yes ! go on," they shouted ; and, kneeling 
down, he prayed so earnestly, that they left the room 
and in it the children for his sabbath school. 

On another occasion, while soliciting children from 
a Roman Catholic family, a strong man made an assault 
upon him with a deadly weapon; when Mr. Moody 
sprang away, and saved himself by flight. 



64 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

Once, when threatened with violence at a miserable 
den, he brought in music to subdue his enemy. 

"We are your friends," said he to the ruffians; 
" come, let us have a song." Mr. Stillson then with 
his sweet voice sang, — 

"Oh, how happy are they 
Who the Saviour obey, 
And have laid up their treasures above ! ' ' 

and Mr. Moody followed with prayer. The rough 
men were moved by the gentle words, and allowed the 
children to be taken to the mission-school, in which 
they subsequently were all converted. 

It was by such kind of work, hunting among the 
wrecks of humanity, seeking for lost souls as the pearl- 
diver for the treasures of the deep, that Mr. Moody 
re-enforced his mission-school. "I made up my 
mind," said he on one occasion, " that I would go on as 
if there were not another man in the world but I to do 
the work. I knew I had to give an account of stew- 
ardship. I suppose they say of me, ' Oh ! he is a fanatic, 
he is a radical ; he has only one idea.' Well, it is a 
glorious idea. I would rather have that said of me, 
than to be a man of ten thousand ideas, and do nothing 
with them." 

In one of his recruiting expeditions, Mr. Moody met 
an old infidel who kept a gin-shop. " Well," said he 
to him, " you are talking about the Bible : I will read 
the New Testament, if you will read Paine's c Age of 



. 



MR. MOODY AND THE JNFIDELS. 65 

Reason.' " — " Agreed," said Mr. Moody ; but he soon 
found he had the worst of the bargain. On inviting 
the infidel to go to church, he said to him, " You can 
have a meeting in my saloon, if you desire it." — 
"Well," replied the evangelist, " to-morrow morning 
at eleven o'clock I'll be with you." — " But," returned 
the infidel, " I want to do part of it myself." — " Very 
well," said Mr. Moody: "you and your friends may 
take the first forty-five minutes, and I will take the last 
fifteen." This was satisfactory ; " and that Sunday 
morning," says Mr. Moody, " I took a little boy with 
me, that God had taught how to pray. I remember 
how weak I felt as I went down to that infidel saloon. 
The owner had gone to a neighboring house where he 
had engaged two rooms with folding-doors, and had them 
filled with infidels and deists. They first began to ask 
me questions ; but I said, c Now, you go on for forty- 
five minutes, and I shall listen.' So they got to wran- 
gling among themselves. Some thought there was a 
Jesus, some not. When the time was up, I said, ' Now 
look here, my friends, your time is up : we always open 
our meetings with prayer.' After I had prayed, the 
little boy cried to God to have mercy on these men. 
They got up one by one, — one going out by this door, 
one by another. They were all gone very soon. The 
old infidel put his hand on my shoulder, and said I 
might have his children. He has since been one of 
the best friends I have had in Chicago. So you see 
it must be personal effort with us all." 



66 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

This kind of labor Mr. Moody with untiring zeal 
put forth ; and fruit in golden clusters sprang from it. 

Going with a friend into a drinking-den one Saturday 
night, they ascertained that the keeper was the son of 
Christian parents, and then said to him, " Do they know 
that you are selling liquor ? " 

They left him meditating on the subject, but had not 
proceeded far when it occurred to them that they had 
not thought to pray with him. Returning, Mr. Moody 
knelt upon the sawdust of the saloon, and presented 
the rumseller at the seat of mercy. 

"I never," said Mr. Stillson, "heard Moody pray 
like that before : it seemed as if the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost was upon him." The prayer was an- 
swered; and soon the man declared that he would 
rather die a pauper than to gain his livelihood by sell- 
ing rum. 

" I believe in that Sunday school," said another man, 
throwing down a piece of silver from an attic window 
as Mr. Moody passed along, " and I want to take a 
little stock in it." 

The missionary had, a few days before, discovered 
the poor fellow drunk, and his wife and children starv- 
ing in their wretched home. Help for the body and 
the soul was rendered ; and subsequently this wretched 
man through his little investment in the Sunday school 
became the owner of a happy home, and, what is better 
still, an earnest worker in the vineyard of the Lord. 

Amongst the many annoyances which Mr. Moody 



MR. MOODY'S NORTH MARKET SCHOOL. 67 

met with in his mission-work, was the occasional break- 
ing of the windows of his schoolroom by the boys of 
the Roman Catholic families, who were very numerous 
in that neighborhood. He went and laid the case 
before the Roman bishop, who promised to attend to it 
if he would join the Catholic Church. 

" But that might hinder me," said Mr. Moody, "in 
my work among the Protestants." 

" Oh ! not at all," replied the bishop. 

" What ! do you mean to say that I could go to the 
noon prayer-meeting, and pray with all kinds of Chris- 
tian people, just as I do now ? " 

" Oh, yes ! " 

" Then Protestants and Catholics can pray together, 
can they ? " 

" Yes." 

" Well, bishop, no man wants to belong to the true 
Church more than I do. I wish you would pray for me 
right here, that God would show me his true Church, 
and help me to be a worthy member of it." 

The bishop knelt and prayed with him ; he stopped 
the breaking of the schoolroom windows, and became 
his sincere friend. 

On hearing this incident in London, a Catholic priest 
said to Mr. Moody, " If you would only join the true 
Church, you would be the greatest man in England." 
This Mr. Moody had no desire to be. 

Sometimes this earnest worker held at his old saloon, 
or " rookery " as they called it, a Thanksgiving jubilee, 



68 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

— not for the sake of feasting, but simply to recount 
the favors God had shown to them. On one of these 
occasions, a poor scholar who had been converted rose 
and said : — 

" There was that big fellow Butcher Kilroy, who 
acted so bad that nobody would have him, and he had 
to be turned out of one class after another, till I was 
afraid he would be turned out of school. It took me a 
long time to get him to come, and I begged for him to 
stay. I used to pray to Jesus every day to give to him 
a new heart ; and I felt pretty sure he would, if we 
didn't turn him out. By and by Butcher Kilroy began 
to want to be a Christian, and now he is converted ; 
and that is what makes this Thanksgiving the happiest 
one in all my life." 

A notable event in the history of this school was the 
visit made to it by Pres. Lincoln after his election in 
1860. He was received with deafening cheers by the 
delighted pupils ; and he then made to them one of his 
characteristic little addresses, telling them they were in 
the right place, and learning from the Bible those 
things which, if observed, would make them good and 
honorable men and women. Subsequently sixty of 
those pupils joined, in answer to his call, the Union 
army. 

The end and aim of Mr. Moody's life was the con- 
version of souls to Christ. No fitting opportunity was 



ME. MOODY'S ACTIVITY. 69 

neglected. In the dens of infamy, the hospitals, 
among the boatmen, the mechanics, the traders and 
teachers, in the railway-car, on the steamer, wherever 
he was, wherever he went, in season or ont of season, 
he had his word to say for Jesus. 

" I was in a railway-train one day," said a good 
Christian, "when a stout, cheery-looking stranger came 
in, and sat down in the seat beside me. We were pass- 
ing through a beautiful country, to which he called my 
attention, saying, — 

" ' Did you ever think what a good heavenly Father 
we have, to give us such a pleasant world to live in ? ' 

" ' Yes, indeed,' said I. 

" ' Are you a Christian ? ' 

"'No.' 

" ' But you ought to be one at once. I am to get off 
at the next station,' he continued. ' If you will kneel 
down right here, I will pray to the Lord to make you 
a Christian.' 

" Scarcely knowing what I did, I knelt down beside 
him there in the car filled with passengers; and he 
prayed for me with all his heart. Just then the train 
drew up at the station ; and he had only time to get off 
before it started on again. 

" Suddenly coming to myself out of what seemed more 
like a dream than a reality, I rushed out on the car- 
platform, and shouted after him, 'Tell me who you 
are! ' 

" • My name is Moody.' 



70 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

" I never could shake off the conviction which then 
took hold upon me, until the strange man's prayer was 
answered, and I had become a Christian." 

The Young Men's Christian Association, instituted 
in 1858, appointed Mr. Moody chairman of its visiting 
committee, and found in him an efficient worker and 
supporter. He purchased an old pony, and mounted 
thereupon was often seen riding through the miserable 
lanes and alleys of the North Side, a bevy of ragged chil- 
dren hanging to his saddle, and rejoicing in the loving 
words of their own " Deacon Moody." The number of 
families visited the first year was 554 ; and $2,350 were 
dispensed for the assistance of the needy, Mr. Moody 
could not be induced to receive any compensation for 
his services ; and, though holding money in reserve for 
others, made his bed of the benches in the room of the 
noon prayer-meeting, and lived upon the simplest fare. 

On the breaking out of the civil war in 1861, the 
energies of the evangelist were directed to the alle- 
viation of the sufferings and the advancement of the 
spiritual welfare of the soldiers. As chairman of the 
devotional committee of the Young Men's Christian 
Association, he commenced holding prayer-meetings at 
Camp Douglas, and had soon the pleasure of seeing a 
chapel raised, at a cost of $2,300, for the accommodation 
of the troops. It was the first camp-chapel erected. 

In the camp-meetings it is said that Mr. Moody 
seemed almost ubiquitous. He was in his proper ele- 
ment. " He would hasten," says a friend, " from one 



mr. Moody's army work. 71 

barrack and camp to another, day and night, week-days 
and Sundays, praying, exhorting, conversing personally 
with the men about their souls, and revelling in the 
abundant work and swift success which the war had 
brought within his reach." 

Mr. Moody was sent as the first regular delegate to 
the army from Chicago ; and after the battle of Fort 
Donelson, Feb. 15, 1862, he went with others from 
Chicago to minister to the sick and wounded on the 
field. He was the same earnest, sympathizing worker 
there ; and many a dying soldier's heart was comforted 
by his kindly sympathy and fervent prayers. The 
scenes he witnessed made a deep impression on his 
mind ; and he now frequently recurs to them in illus- 
tration of religious truth. 

" At last," said he on one occasion, " I went into 
the battle-field, and helped to bear away the sick and 
wounded ; and, after I had been over one or two battle- 
fields, I began to realize what it meant. I could hear 
the dying men, and their cry for water ; and, when I 
heard of a battle, the whole thing was stamped upon 
my mind ; but I tell you how the Son of God suffered, 
and some of you will go out laughing." 

Resting briefly, Mr. Moody was married on the 
twenty-eighth day of August, 1862, to Miss Emma C. 
Revell, an estimable lady who had for some time as- 
sisted him in his mission-work, and who has shown 
herself to be in spirit and in deed most worthy of her 
noble husband. They have two children, Emma and 



72 LITE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

Willie, to both of whom the father often refers in his 
discourses. " One day," says Mr. Daniels in his in- 
structive life of Mr. Moody, " he found his little boy 
with an elegantly illustrated Bible on his lap, digging 
out the eyes of a picture of Judas Iscariot with a pair 
of scissors. On being asked why he was doing such 
mischief, the little fellow referred to the lesson read at 
prayers that morning, which had been the betrayal of 
the Lord ; and his indignation at the conduct of Judas 
had taken this form of expression." 

Mr. Moody was with the army, laboring to the 
utmost limit of his strength, at the battles of Shiloh, 
Pittsburg Landing, and of Murfreesboro'. " One day," 
he said, " at Nashville a great strong, wicked-looking 
soldier came to me trembling. He said he had got a 
letter from his sister six hundred miles away, and she 
said that she prayed to God, night after night, that he 
should be saved ; and he said that he could not stand to 
hear that, and he had come to give himself to Christ. 
And there and then we knelt down together in prayer 
to God, he crushed and broken in heart." 

Many such instances of answer to prayer came to 
his observation during his eventful army-life. One of 
the most remarkable is thus related : — 

" One night a party of our men found themselves on 
the battle-field in charge of a great many wounded 
soldiers, who, by the sudden retreat of the army, were 
left wholly without shelter or supplies. Having done 



MR. MOODY'S ARMY WORK. 73 

their best for the poor fellows, bringing them water 
from a distant brook, and searching the haversacks of 
the dead for rations, they began to say to themselves 
and one another, • These weak and wounded men 
must have food, or they will die. The army is out of 
reach, and there is no village for many miles : what are 
we to do ? ' — ' Pray to God,' said one, ' to send us 
bread.' 

" That night in the midst of the dead and dying they 
held a little prayer-meeting, telling the Lord all about 
the case, and begging him to send them bread immedi- 
ately ; though from whence it could come, they had not 
the most remote idea. All night long they plied their 
work of mercy. With the first ray of dawn, the sound 
of an approaching wagon caught their ears ; and pres- 
ently through the mists of the morning appeared a 
great Dutch farm- wagon, piled to the very top with 
loaves of bread. On their asking the driver where it 
came from, and who sent him, he replied, — 

" i When I went to bed last night, I knew that the 
army was gone, and I could not sleep for thinking of 
the poor fellows who always have to stay behind ; 
something seemed to say to me, " What will those 
poor fellows do for something to eat ? " It came to 
me so strong that I waked up my old wife, and told 
her what was the matter. We had only a little bread 
in the house; and, while my wife was making some 
more, I took my team, and went around to all my 
neighbors, making them get up and give me all the 



74 LIFE OF DWTGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

bread in their houses, telling them that it was for the 
wounded soldiers. When I got home my wagon was 
full ; my old wife piled her baking on the top; and I 
started off to bring the bread to the boys, feeling just 
as if the Lord himself was sending me." 

Although Mr. Moody was so intently engaged in 
ministering to the wants of the soldiers in the army, he 
by no means neglected his beloved mission-work at 
home. Feeling the need of a chapel for his converts, 
he raised by subscriptions about twenty thousand dol- 
lars, with which a neat and commodious building was 
raised in Illinois Street in 1863, and a church on inde- 
pendent principles organized. 

After the long and sanguinary work was done, Mr. 
Moody was one of the first to enter Richmond ; and no 
one saw the stars and stripes float over it with greater 

" I had not been long there," said he in one of his 
discourses, " before it was announced that the negroes 
were going to have a jubilee meeting. These colored 
people were just awakening to the fact that they were 
free ; and I went down to the African Church, one of 
the largest in the South, and found it crowded. One of 
the colored chaplains of a Northern regiment had 
offered to speak. I have heard many eloquent men in 
Europe and in America ; but I do not think I ever 
heard eloquence such as I heard that clay. He said, 
4 Mothers, you rejoice to-day i you are forever free. 



MB. MOODY'S ABMY WOEK. 75 

That little child has been torn from your embrace, 
and sold off to some distant State, for the last time ; 
your hearts are never to be broken again in that way : 
you are free ! ' The women clapped their hands, and 
shouted at the top of their voices, ' Glory, glory to 
God ! ' It was good news to them, and they believed 
it. It filled them full of joy. Then he turned to the 
young men, and said, ' Young men, you rejoice to-day : 
you have heard the crack of the slave-driver's whip for 
the last time ; your posterity shall be free. Young men, 
rejoice to-day : you are forever free ! ' And they clapped 
their hands, and shouted, ; Glory to God ! ' They 
believed the good tidings. 4 Young maidens,' he said, 
4 you rejoice to-day : you have been put on the auction- 
block and sold for the last time : you are free, forever 
free ! ' They believed it, and, lifting up their voices, 
shouted, ' Glory be to God ! ' I never before was in 
such a meeting. They believed : it was good news to 
them." 



CHAPTER IV. 



MR. MOODY'S CHURCH. — HIS ACTIVITY AS A PASTOR. - FARWELL 
HALL. — VISIT TO ENGLAND.— HIS HOME. — THE CHICAGO FIRE.^- 
THE TABERNACLE. 

Plan of Mr. Moody's Church. — His Power of Endurance. — New Year's 
Calls. — His Trust in God for Daily Support. — President of the 
Young Men's Christian Association. — Dedication of EarwellHall. — 
Open- Air Meetings. — Prayer of the Kich Man. — Sunday-School 
Conventions. — Mr. Moody visits England. — " Out and Out for 
Christ." — How he prepares a Sermon. —The Man at the Lamp-Post. 
— Ear well Hall Burned. — The New Home. — Mrs. Moody. — The 
Bible Readings. — Love. —The "I ams" of John. — Alliance with 
Sankey. — The Great Fire. —Mr. Moody's Account of it. — Visit to 
Philadelphia. — The Tabernacle erected. — The Order of Services 
held therein. —He revisits England. 

" This one thing I do; forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching 
forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of 
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." — St. Paul. 

"It does not take God a great while to qualify a man for his work, if he only 
has the heart for it." — D. L. Moody. 

Me. Moody founded a free and independent church, 
consisting at first of about three hundred members, on 
the simple, unsectarian, and fraternal principles of the 
gospel. "This body of believers," one of its organic 
articles declares, " desire to be known only as Chris- 
tians, without reference to any denomination. While 

76 



POWER OF ENDURANCE. 77 

the common evangelical doctrines are fully recognized, 
the plan is to unite in one all who are willing to co- 
operate in carrying on the work of the common Master. 

Mr. Moody was the heart and soul of the enterprise ; 
and it soon became an institution of remarkable power 
for the dissemination of the gospel amongst the poorer 
classes in the city of Chicago. Acting on the Napo- 
leonic motto, " To every one his work," he suffered 
no member of the fold to rest in idleness. He infused 
his own progressive spirit into his congregation, so 
that each and every one was led to make the win- 
ning of souls to Christ the objective aim and end of 
life. The church-bell which some good friend had 
given to him sent forth its pealing notes for some kind 
of meeting every evening in the week ; and so earnest 
were the pastor's appeals, so prevalent his prayers, so 
personal his work, so numerous the conversions, that 
one continuous revival was the grand result. 

The sabbath school soon numbered about one thou- 
sand pupils ; and a quickening influence was sent into 
the other churches of the city. The amount of labor 
performed by Mr. Moody in visiting the poor, the sick, 
and the degraded, in holding extra meetings, in exhor- 
tation, and in prayer, seems almost incredible. His 
iron constitution, and the ardor of his soul in the good 
work, alone sustained him. 

" I am used up. I can't think, or speak, or do any 
thing else," said he after morning service, one Sunday 
noon, to his friend Col. Hammond. " You must take 
my meeting to-night : I have nothing left in me." 



78 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

Col. Hammond went to church prepared to lead the 
service. The house was full ; and, just as he was 
rising to speak, Mr. Moody came rushing in with a 
large company of young men he had induced to follow 
him from the saloons, and then delivered one of the 
most affecting sermons that gentleman had ever heard 
him preach. Wherever he goes he has a kind word 
for whomsoever he meets, and also the happy faculty 
of giving every one something to do for Jesus. " Here, 
take this pile of papers, stand at that corner of the 
street, and give one to everybody that goes by," he 
has said to many an idler in the city ; and, by thus set- 
ting him at work, has interested him in his church, and 
finally brought him as an active member into it. 

Mr. Moody's manner of making calls upon his people 
on the first day of the year is thus happily described 
by Mr. Hitchcock, superintendent of his sabbath 
school : — 

" On reaching a family belonging to his congregation, 
he would spring out of the omnibus, leap up the stair- 
ways (for many of the families lived in garrets), rush 
into the room, and pay his respects as follows : ' You 
know me : I am Moody. This is Deacon De Golyer, 
this, Deacon Thane, this is Brother Hitchcock. Are 
you all well ? Do you all come to church and Sunday 
school ? Have you all the coal you need for the win- 
ter? Let us pray.' Saying this, Mr. Moody would 
offer earnest, tender, sympathetic supplication that 



TRUST IN GOD FOR DAILY SUPPORT. 79 

God would bless the man, his wife, and each one of his 
children. 

" Then, springing to his feet, he would dash on his 
hat, dart through the doorway and down the stairs, 
throwing a hearty i good-by ' behind him, leap into the 
omnibus, and off to the next place on his list ; the 
entire exercise occupying only about one minute and a 
half. 

" Before long the horses were tired out, for Moody 
insisted on their going at a run from house to house : 
so the omnibus was abandoned, and the party proceeded 
on foot. One after another, his companions became 
exhausted with running up stairs and down stairs, and 
across the streets, and kneeling on bare floors, and get- 
ting up in a hurry, until reluctantly, but of necessity, 
they were obliged to relinquish their attempt, and the 
tireless pastor was left to make the last of the two 
hundred calls alone ; after which feat he returned 
home in the highest spirits, and with no sense of his 
fatigue, to laugh at his exhausted companions for de- 
serting him." 

Mr. Moody himself occupied a small cottage on the 
North Side ; and, as the good and faithful Miiller of 
Bristol, Eng., trusted in God for his support. Nor 
was the trust in vain. " We need a barrel of flour," 
said his wife to him one morning, as he was going out 
to work for Christ : " will you attend to it ? " The 
request was soon forgotten ; but, on returning in the 



80 LITE OP DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

evening, Mrs. Moody said to him, " I thank you for 
that barrel of flour." — "What barrel of flour?" he 
answered: "did a barrel come? " — "Yes." — " Well," 
he said, " I haven't thought of it since you spoke of it 
in the morning." But the Lord had thought of it ; 
and so his wants, though he receives no salary, have 
been till now supplied. 

In addition to Mr. Moody's earnest labors in his 
church, and in sabbath-school conventions far and near, 
he infused by his untiring energy new life and spirit 
into the noon prayer-meetings of the Young Men's 
Christian Association ; and then induced that body to 
erect.for its use a noble structure upon Madison Street. 

" The only way to get a building," said a young 
member after several schemes had failed, "is to elect 
Mr. Moody president of the Association." He was, 
against strong opposition on the conservative side, 
elected. He planned the work judiciously, and had 
the pleasure of seeing the beautiful structure dedicated 
on the 29th of September, 1867, under the name of 
" Far well Hall." In his address on the occasion, Mr. 
Moody said, " When I see young men by thousands 
going in the way of death, I feel like falling at the feet 
of Jesus, and crying out to him with prayers and tears 
to come and save them, and to help us to bring them 
to him. His answer to our prayers, and his blessing on 
our work, give me faith to believe that a mighty influ- 
ence is to go out from us, that shall extend through 
this county and every county in the State, through 



OPEN-AIR MEETINGS. 81 

every State in the Union, and finally, crossing the 
waters, shall help to bring the whole world to God." 

These words were prophetic. Through the personal 
energy of Mr. Moody, sabbath -school conventions were 
held in every county in Illinois ; a wave of Christian 
influence was sent swelling through the country ; and 
millions in lands beyond the sea have been converted, 
or wakened to a higher life in Christ. 

Mr. Moody held meetings sometimes in the open air, 
and in general with great success. Visiting a certain 
town for the purpose of reviving the work of God, a 
pastor said to him, " You might better have staid at 
home : winter is the time ; in summer people here are 
too busy." Mr. Moody then went into the public 
square, took his stand upon a box, and began to 
address the few persons who had followed him. A 
crowd of people soon came up, and some of them 
were moved to tears by his deep earnestness. He 
held another meeting at the church. It was not large 
enough to contain the people. Other meetings fol- 
lowed ; and a grand awakening led the pastor to 
exclaim, " I see, dear sir, that summer is just the time 
for a revival." 

In his daily walks, this brave and tireless laborer 
would neglect no opportunity to address his fellow- 
men on the subject ever glowing in his heart ; saying 
to a stranger waiting for the train, "Are you for 
Jesus?" to a conductor, "Are you all right with 
God?" to a doctor of divinity, "How does your soul 
prosper ? " 



82 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

" He seems," says one who knew him well, u to be 
always carried along on a sea of inspiration. He 
passes his life tossing on its waves, where he is as 
perfectly at home as the stormy petrel on the ocean." 

" Though earnest in his piety, and full of religious 
conversation," says the Rev. David Macrae in " The 
Americans at Home," " Mr. Moody has no patience with 
mere cant, and wants everybody to prove his sincerity 
by his acts. At a meeting in behalf of a struggling 
charity, a wealthy layman, loud in his religious pro- 
fessions, offered up a prayer that the Lord would move 
the hearts of the people to contribute the sum required. 
Mr. Moody rose and said that all the charity wanted 
was the sum of two thousand dollars ; and that he con- 
sidered it absurd for a man with half a million to get 
up and ask the Lord to do any thing in the matter, 
when he could himself, with the mere stroke of the 
pen, do all that was needed and ten times more, and 
never feel the difference." 

" In private intercourse," says the Rev. Dr. Clark of 
Albany, " I have always found Mr. Moody as full of 
gentle courtesy towards others, as he was of tender 
love for his Saviour. I never knew a man so free from 
selfishness or self-seeking as he. His friendship is as 
pure as crystal, and his generous love flows out toward 
all whom he can serve or benefit. A nobler soul was 
never formed by grace or spiritual culture. His very 
presence as a guest is a blessing in any house." 

In his early evangelical efforts Mr. Moody used to 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL CONVENTIONS. 83 

blame the ministers for the inactivity of the churches. 
At a certain meeting for the promotion of a revival, 
one good brother rose and criticised him severely for 
his uncharitableness, when Mr. Moody said with deep 
emotion, " From my heart I thank that brother. I 
deserved it. Will you, my brother, pray for me ? " 
All hearts were touched by his repentance ; and his 
course in respect to the clergy ever since proves it to be 
sincere. 

The Sunday-school conventions held by Mr. Moody 
and his helpers were characterized by remarkable 
solemnity ; and under the impressive appeals of the 
evangelist, who was gaining every year in spiritual 
power, thousands were turned from darkness into light. 
Though rough in speech, the common people heard him 
gladly ; yet he was not satisfied with himself. The boy 
preacher, Harry Moorhouse of Manchester, had been in 
Chicago, and had spoken with great acceptance in the 
pulpit of the Illinois-street Church. He had evinced 
surprising knowledge of the Scriptures ; he had re- 
vealed a new method of studying them. One passage 
was to be interpreted by another passage, one revela- 
tion to be examined under the light of another reve- 
lation, and the golden thread that held all parts to- 
gether as an harmonious whole pursued from the 
commencement to the close. Mr. Moody saw that he 
had read the Bible hitherto only by piecemeal, and 
without any consistent plan. He was intensely inter- 
ested in the system of Mr. Moorhouse ; and in 1867 



84 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

visited England for the purpose mainly of learning 
what to Mm was a new way of finding out the riches 
of the word of God. In London he met the late cele- 
brated evangelist Henry Varley, who said to him, " It 
remains for the world to see what the Lord can do with 
a man wholly consecrated to Christ." These words 
sank deep into his soul. He gave himself more heartily 
than ever to the study of his Bagster's Bible and to 
the work of leading wanderers in sin to Jesus. During 
his brief visit to London he preached almost one hun- 
dred sermons, and succeeded in establishing a daily 
union prayer-meeting in that city. Though the time 
had not yet come for him to do much for London, 
some fuel was added to the name in his own soul by 
the Christian men he met there, and his aggressive 
power as an evangelist was augmented. 

" Is this young man all O O ? " said a Christian from 
the city of Dublin to another in London, pointing to 
Mr. Moody. " What do you mean by O O ? " said the 
one to whom the . question was directed. " Is he out 
and out for Christ? " replied the other. " I tell you," 
said Moody, " it burned down into my soul. It means 
a good deal to be O O for Christ." 

On returning from England, Mr. Moody with re- 
newed vigor carried on his work, preaching in his 
church in the morning, infusing fresh life into his 
beloved sabbath school now numbering almost a thou- 
sand pupils, and addressing vast audiences at Farwell 
Hall in the evening. He introduced more of the Scrip- 



THE MAN AT THE LAMP-POST. 85 

ture into his sermons, and spoke as a lawyer to a body 
of jurymen — intent on the conversion of one at least 
to the truth as it is in Jesus. 

" How did you prepare that sermon on the compas- 
sion of Christ ? " said Dr. Roy to him one day. " I took 
the Bible," answered the evangelist, " and began to 
read it over to find out what it said on that subject. I 
prayed over the texts as I went along until the thought 
of His infinite compassion overpowered me, and I could 
only lie on the floor of my study, with my face in the 
open Bible, and cry like a little child." Sermons so 
composed could hardly fail to move an audience to 
tears. 

Mr. Moody continued during four successive years to 
hold the office of president of the Young's Men's Chris- 
tian Association ; and at one time he was, as he himself 
has said, " president, secretary, janitor, and every thing 
else." Here is an instance of the kind of outside work 
he was constantly performing. 

" Are you a Christian ? " said he to a man leaning 
against a lamp-post. He answered the question with a 
curse. " Maybe," said Mr. Moody to himself, " I am 
doing more harm than good." One night he heard a 
knock on the door, and the man who swore at him at 
the lamp-post, appearing to him on the door-step, said, 
" Do you remember the man you met about three 
months ago at a lamp-post, and how he cursed you? 
I have had no peace since that night. Oh, tell me what 
to do to be saved ! " 



86 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

" We just fell down on our knees," said Mr. Moody, 
" and I prayed ; and the next day he went to the noon 
prayer-meeting, and openly confessed the Saviour. 
How often have I thanked God for that word to that 
dying sinner ! " 

In January, 1868, the beautiful building of the Young 
Men's Christian Association was reduced to ashes ; but 
there are large-hearted, noble Christian men in the city 
of Chicago. John V. Farwell, B. F. Jacobs, and 
others came immediately forward, and commenced on 
the same site another and a better building, which, the 
ensuing year, was dedicated to the service of the Lord. 

On New Year's Day, Mr. Moody and his family were 
taken into a carriage, and driven to a new house, which 
had been built and elegantly furnished by some liberal 
friends for his abode. It was filled with old acquaint- 
ances who greeted him with cordial welcome, while 
Dr. Robert Patterson in fitting words made the pre- 
sentation of the lease and furniture to the astonished 
preacher, who in the fulness of his heart could offer 
only broken sentences of gratitude in reply. 

Mr. Moody was very happy in his new home. " His 
delight was to play with his children," says one of his 
friends, " and to entertain strangers. He loved to see 
his whole household in a roar of laughter; and yet, 
when a passage of the Bible came up suddenly to his 
mind, he would turn to them with his usual word, 
4 Come, let us pray ! ' and then all would kneel, and 
listen silently to the outbreathings of his fervent soul." 



BIBLE READINGS. 87 

" The spirit of his companion," says the Rev. Dr. 
Clark in an excellent sketch of Mr. Moody, " harmo- 
nizes perfectly with his spirit ; and her sympathy and 
tenderness are among Heaven's choicest gifts to him. 
A stranger who was visiting his sabbath school noticed 
a lady teaching about forty middle-aged men in the 
gallery. Looking at her and then at the class, he said 
to Mr. Moody, 4 Is not that lady altogether too young 
to teach such a class of men ? ' He replied, ' She 
gets along very well, and seems to succeed in her teach- 
ing.' The stranger did not appear to be altogether 
satisfied. In a few moments he approached the super- 
intendent again, and with becoming gravity continued, 
' Mr. Moody, I cannot but feel that that lady must be 
altogether too young to instruct such a large compan}^ 
of men. Will you, sir, please to inform me who she 
is ? ' — ' Certainly,' replied Mr. Moody : ' that is my 
wife.' " 

The Bible readings now held by this man of one 
book became the engrossing topic of conversation 
among Christians in Chicago ; and hundreds joined his 
classes for the purpose of obtaining a key to the hid- 
den wealth of Holy Writ. His plan is to take one 
word or doctrine, and, by the aid of a concordance, to 
trace it through the various books of Scripture, and 
thus examine it by the light of inspiration under all 
its meanings and relations. " I remember," says he, 
" I took up the word 4 love,' and turned to the Scrip- 
tures and studied it, and got so that I felt that I loved 



88 LIFE OP DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

everybody. I got full of it. It ran out of my fingers. 
Suppose you take up the subject of love, and study it. 
You will get so full of it that all you have got to do is 
to open your lips, and a flood of the love of God flows 
out upon the meeting. Take the 4 1 ams ' of John, — 
4 1 am the bread of life ; ' 'lam the vine ; ' 4 1 am the 
water of life ; ' ' I am the way, the truth, and the life ; ' 
4 1 am the resurrection.' God gives to his children a 
blank, and on it they can write whatever they most 
want, and he Avill fill the bill." 

In order to aid his eye and memory, Mr. Moody con- 
nects by a fine hair-line drawn in his Bagster's Bible, 
which he carries in a pocket made expressly for it, 
words, names, or passages co-related, and introduces 
many other marks of reference. 

In the early part of 1871, this untiring servant of 
the Lord had the good fortune, while attending a con- 
vention at Indianapolis, to make the acquaintance of 
Ira David Sankey, who has since become so celebrated 
as 44 a sweet singer of the gospel." Mr. Moody is him- 
self no singer; but, aware of the power of sacred 
music over the hearts of men, he determined wisely to 
secure his services. A kind of co-partnership in evan- 
gelization was soon formed between them ; and now 
Mr. Moody with his Bible, and Mr. Sankey with his 
song-book, move together in fraternal concord, pub- 
lishing the glad tidings of salvation through the world. 

The mighty conflagration of the city of Chicago 
commenced in the evening of the 8th of October, 1871, 



MB. MOODY'S ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT FIRE. 89 

and swept over an area of four square miles, leaving 
but a mass of blocks and smouldering ruins in its course. 
Aroused by the uproar of that night "of terror, Mr. 
Moody and his family fled for shelter from the flames. 
"Every thing I have is lost," said he, "except my 
reputation and my Bible." 

To his wife, who solicited him to take his portrait 
with them, he replied, " Wouldn't I look well carrying 
my picture through the streets ? " His beautiful house, 
his beloved church, and Farwell Hall, the evangelical 
centre of Chicago, were consumed ; and most of his 
parishioners were left in destitution. As soon as Mr. 
Moody's family were safe, he hurried back to assist the 
sick and wounded in their efforts to escape from peril. 
In one of his discourses, he thus speaks of the dreadful 
scene : — 

" It was my sad lot to be in the Chicago fire. As 
the flames rolled down our streets, destroying every 
thing in their onward march, I saw the great and the 
honorable, the. learned and the wise, fleeing before the 
fire with the beggar and the thief and the harlot. All 
were alike. As the flames swept through the city, it 
was like the judgment clay. Neither the mayor, nor the 
mighty men, nor the wise men, could stop these flames. 
They were all on a level then, and many who were 
worth hundreds of thousands were left paupers that 
night. When the day of judgment comes, there will be 
no difference : all sinners will suffer." 



90 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

On the evening of the great fire Mr. Moody spoke to 
an audience of three thousand persons in Farwell Hall, 
exhorting them to become Christians. During the 
meeting Dr. Thomas Hastings's hymn, — 

' ' To-day the Saviour calls : 
Ye wanderers, come; 
Oh, ye benighted souls ! 
Why longer roam ? ' ' 

was sung by the congregation, and ten persons re- 
mained to express their determination to follow Jesus. 
As they went out into the street, the flames were seen 
approaching, and three of the number perished in the 
conflagration. 

Mr. Moody has a brave heart, sustained by confidence 
in God. After rendering to the sufferers what relief he 
could, he went to Philadelphia with the view of raising 
funds for the erection of a temporary building for reli- 
gious services. 

" If I had a thousand dollars I could build," said he 
to George H. Stuart and others, " a great box that 
would hold my Sunday school." — " You shall have 
three thousand," was the prompt reply. With this 
money he commenced a rough tabernacle a hundred 
and nine feet by seventy-five, of boards, in the burnt 
district ; and by aid of the hands of poor men, women, 
and children, who sometimes toiled by night, the rude 
structure .was within eight weeks after the fire com- 
pleted. At the dedication more than a thousand chil- 



ORDER OF SERVICES IN TABERNACLE, 91 

dren were present. The tabernacle presented a most 
singular appearance, rising as it did thus solitary among 
the ruins ; and it served the triple purpose of affording 
shelter to the homeless, of storing supplies for the 
destitute, and of being used as a religious temple. Mr. 
Moody and his family made it the place of their abode, 
and from it charitable distributions were continually 
extended to the poor people of the city. Religious ser- 

ices were often held in it; and by the powerful 
preaching of Mr. Moody, whom the fire had brought 
into closer union with his Lord and Master, and by the 
sweet and touching songs of Mr. Sankey, many wander- 
ing souls were led to Jesus. Never was there a livelier 
)r a busier scene of varied labor, such as sewing, mend- 

ig, arranging, and distributing, than that low, tar- 
covered tabernacle presented for a long time subsequent 
to the memorable fire ; and the services for the sabbath 

r ere, according to the Rev. Mr. Daniels, conducted in 
the following order : — 

" The Lord's Supper every Sunday at nine in the morn- 
ing ; preaching by Mr. Moody at half-past ten, at the 
close of which he waited at the door to greet the people 
as they passed out ; then dinner in the class-room, at 
which a number of the Sunday-school teachers were 
present to talk over the work of the day ; immediately 
after dinner, a teachers' meeting for the study of the 
lesson ; at three o'clock the Sunday school, with Mr, 
Moody for superintendent ; following it a teachers' 



92 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

prayer-meeting, also led by him; then supper in the 
class-room; then the yoke-fellows' prayer -meeting; 
preaching again at half-past seven ; after which Mr. 
Moody held a meeting for inquirers, which sometimes 
lasted far into the night. 

Though left entirely destitute by the fire, Mr. Moody 
toiled, regardless of his own necessities, for the salvation 
of the masses who came in their poverty to listen to his 
heartfelt exhortations. His own pocket-book was often 
empty while he was engaged in the distribution of the 
alms of others to the needy. Having preached for the 
Rev. Dr. Goodspeed one day, ten dollars were tendered 
to him by the pastor, who at the same time said to him, 
' This is all I have.' — 'Then,' replied the self-denying 
Moody, ' I won't take but half of it, though I have not 
one cent.' " 

At the solicitation of three gentlemen, Mr. Moody, 
after some profound religious experiences, determined 
in 1873 to revisit England ; and, on being asked why 
he came to this decision, his quick reply was, " To win 
ten thousand souls to Christ." 

He made his preparations for the voyage, leaving his 
church in the hands of long-tried and efficient laborers ; 
but up to the eve of his departure took no thought for 
the money, even to pay his passage. He literally abided 
by the words of Christ, " Take no thought for the mor- 
row';" and his simple trust in God was not in vain. 
Just as he was about leaving with his family, his liberal 



HE REVISITS ENGLAND. 93 

friend John V. Farwell came to him, and, bidding him 
good-by, placed in his hand a check for five hundred 
dollars, saying he perhaps would need it after reaching 
England. 

On the 7th of June, 1873, Mr Moody and his family, 
together with Mr. Sankey, sailed for Liverpool, at which 
city they arrived upon the seventeenth day of the same 
month. The prayers of thousands followed these gifted 
messengers of good- will to men ; and the Spirit of 
Jehovah, speaking through their voices, moved the 
hearts and tongues of millions in Great Britain to de- 
clare for the Redeemer and his kingdom. 



CHAPTER V. 

LABORS OF MESSRS. MOODY AND SANKEY-IN ENGLAND, SCOT- 
LAND, IRELAND, AND AGAIN IN ENGLAND. 

A Memorable Day. — Why the Evangelists went to England. — Their 
Work at York. — Sunderland. — Newcastle-upon-Tyne. — The 
Promises. — Farewell to Newcastle. — They visit Edinburgh. — 
Distrust of the Scotchmen. — Mr. Moody's Faith. —The Infidel 
Club. — Eagerness of the People to hear the Gospel. — Meeting at the 
Corn Exchange. — Tolbooth Church. — Week of Prayer. —Farewell 
Meeting at Arthur's Seat. — Glasgow visited. — Open- Air Meetings. 

— City Hall. — Erving Place Chapel. — Waiting. — Meeting for Chil- 
dren. — The Crystal Palace. — Results of Labors. — A German Pas- 
tor. — Temperance. — Activity of Christians. — Return to Edinburgh. 

— All Scotland interested. — Perth. — Aberdeen. — Tain. — Hunt- 
ley. — An Outdoor Meeting at Elgin. — Rothesay. — The Evangelists 
visit Belfast. — Last Meeting in that City. — Londonderry. — Dub- 
lin. — View of an Episcopalian. — An Aged Man converted. — Unity 
of Sentiment. — A Convention of Ministers and Others. — Visit to 
Manchester. — Sheffield. — Birmingham. — Assemblies described. — 
Liverpool. — Visit to London. — The City described. — Plan of La- 
bor. — Results of the Revival on England and America. 

" Poor, but making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing all things." 

St. Paul. 

" Attempt great things for God, and expect great things from God." — Carey. 

The 17th of June is a memorable day in the history 
of England and America. On that clay the brave and 
well-disciplined soldiers of England met in deadly con- 
flict, on the slopes of Bunker Hill, the hastily gathered 

94 



WHY THE EVANGELISTS WENT TO ENGLAND. 95 

and raw militia of Boston and the adjoining towns. 
The contending forces found out by that day's expe- 
rience that they were kindred in blood and soul. It 
was a lesson they have never forgotten. The world 
knows that to all intents and purposes the English and 
Americans are one. 

It was a fitting coincidence, that Messrs. Moody and 
Sankey in their evangelistic visit to England should 
land upon her shores on the 17th of June. They were 
not invaders with hostile intent, but friends and helpers 
of all good men and women in saving the perishing 
multitudes, who, living in the midst of the light of the 
gospel, were yet rejecting its offers of mercy. 

They did not go to England because there were no 
living, working Christians there ; for there is, and has 
been since the days of Wesley, a vital type of Chris- 
tianity in that country equal to any the world has ever 
known. They did not visit England for the reason that 
there was no work for them to do at home ; for in all 
our great cities there are vast multitudes yet unreached 
by the gospel. They did not go as religious adventur- 
ers, but because, like Paul of old, they had heard a cry 
for help, which they could not resist. They went forth 
on their mission as evangelists, and they carried their 
divinely given credentials with them. They were not 
of the class who send themselves, men, and sometimes 
women, of small natural abilities, a narrow range of 
thought, a meagre supply of common sense, and not 
much religion. They were rather men of holy lives 



96 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

they enjoyed experimental piety ; they were not covet- 
ous of wealth or honor ; they had walked with Christ 
until their hearts were all aflame with his quenchless 
love for a dying world ; they had known the fellowship 
of the sufferings of the world's Redeemer, the bitterness 
of sin, the peace of pardon, the comfort of hope, the 
joy of adoption, the victory of an abiding faith, and 
the unspeakable glory of personal communion with the 
Triune God. 

If Mr. Moody had been going into a country where 
there were no Christian people, then of course his 
work would have been entirely among the unconverted ; 
it would have been to preach repentance and faith, and 
to call men to a knowledge of Christ. In England 
Christianity had been planted for many centuries, and 
there were many Christian churches already organized, 
many professing Christians, and many devout and 
earnest souls bent on the spread of the Redeemer's 
kingdom. Besides these, there were vast masses of the 
unsaved, with more or less knowledge of the gospel, 
who were living in neglect of the great salvation. 
Under these circumstances the work of Mr. Moody 
was twofold in its character. He would first unify 
and intensify the individual activity of all Christians, 
and then with their help proclaim the gospel to the 
entire community. 

"When the two evangelists landed at Liverpool on the 
17th of June, 1873, they were met with the disheart- 
ening news that one of the principal men who had 



WORK AT YORK. 97 

invited them had died. Seeing no other course to 
pursue, Mr. Moody sent a telegram to the secretary 
of the Young Men's Christian Association at York, 
another friend who had invited him to England, that 
he was ready to begin his work. He was informed in 
reply, that religion was at a very low ebb in York, and 
that it would require at least a month to get ready for 
a revival. The communication closed by asking Mr. 
Moody when he might be expected, to which he 
returned immediately the despatch, " I will be in York 
to-night." 

If one might judge of the character of the people by 
the number of their churches, as Paul of the Athenians 
by the number of their gods, the conclusion would be 
that the inhabitants of the famous old city of York 
were very religious. Three hundred years ago York 
had nearly sixty parish churches and chapels, together 
with an ample supply of monasteries and nunneries. 
At present, with a population of about fifty thousand, 
there are, besides the cathedral, twenty-nine churches 
and about half as many Dissenting chapels. If all the 
people of York, from the oldest to the youngest, were 
to choose some fine Sunday to go to church, there 
would be room in the churches for them all, and nearly 
half as many more. A harder place than this could 
not be found for the commencement of the labors 
of the American evangelists. Religiously educated, 
wealthy church-goers, with an archbishop and many 
clergy employed and unemployed, — what could the 



9 

: 



98 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

citizens of York want of uncultivated revivalists whc 
had never been ordained, nor even licensed to preac?i 
the gospel ? 

It may be supposed that it was in the divine order 
that they should go to this unpromising field in the 
beginning, that their faith might be strengthened for 
the difficulties yet to come. 

The first of the meetings held in York was on 
Sunday morning, in one of the small rooms of the 
Young Men's Christian Association; and the number 
present was but eight. Four churches had been opened 
for them, and amid great discouragement they held 
meetings through the week. There was no apparent 
sympathy on the part of Christians, and no movement 
on the part of the unconverted. There was no decided 
opposition ; yet the ministers both of the Dissenting 
and Established churches rendered them no active 
co-operation. The result of a month's unremitting 
labor was the conversion of about two hundred and 
fifty persons, the awakening of some Christian people 
in the city, and, what was of very great importance, an 
impression made upon the public mind outside of York, 
that these two earnest workers were the servants of the 
Most High God. 

From York they went to Sunderland, a seaport in 
the North-west of England, with a population of about 
eighty thousand people. Here on Sunday, July 27, 
they began their labors ; but still were destined to 
encounter many obstacles. The English mind is slow 



NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. 99 

to accept new ideas ; nor does it look on foreigners 
with any special favor. These evangelists were plain 
men, without wealth, social position, or diplomas from 
the schools. They were perhaps curious specimens of 
the Yankees, who had come over to the Fatherland on 
purpose to make money. Mr. Moody was blunt in his 
manners ; he understood so little of the science of red 
tape, and went at things so abruptly, that the English 
did not exactly understand what to do with him. But 
they learned in time to love him and to trust him as a 
servant of the living God, tremendously in earnest to 
do his Master's will. 

Meeting with but limited success in Sunderland, 
the evangelists went next to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Here had lived one of the men who had invited them 
to England ; but he had gone to his reward, without 
beholding the work he had so much desired to promote. 
" We have not done much in York and Sunderland," 
said Mr. Moody on his arrival, " because the ministers 
opposed us ; but we are going to stay in Newcastle till 
we make an impression, and live down the prejudices of 
good people who do not understand us." This purpose 
he adhered to with the most encouraging results. The 
ministers and laymen gradually came to his help ; and 
their united efforts were honored of God, by the con- 
version of many precious souls. " We are on the eve 
of a great revival," said Mr. Moody, at one of the 
meetings at which almost a thousand Christians were 
present, " which may cover Great Britain, and perhaps 



100 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

make itself felt in America. And why," continued he, 
" may the fire not burn as long as I live ? When this 
revival spirit dies, may I die with it ! " 

On Wednesday, Sept. 10, an all-day meeting was held 
in Rye Hill Chapel, where about seventeen hundred 
people were present, all manifesting the profoundesfc 
interest in the novel services. The first hour was de- 
voted to the reading of the Bible and to prayer ; the 
second to the promises, when Mr. Moody said, " These 
promises, like precious gems, are to be found in every 
book of the Bible, and to-day we may get into the 
company of all God's great men who have passed away, 
and hear what things they have to tell us about our 
Father's love. We may summon the patriarchs, the 
prophets, the priests, the kings ; we may listen to the 
historians, the biographers, the poets, of the Bible ; and 
they will all give us some of the precious promises 
spoken by God through their lives to the ears of the 
whole world. The meeting is to be quite open and 
free ; not for speeches about promises, but for the read- 
ing forth of these good words of God to our souls." 
Then from every part of the audience came passage 
after passage, — for the people had their Bibles with 
them, — which set forth the fulness of God's love to 
man. During the last hour, Mr. Moody spoke of 
heaven ; and well it could be said of him, " The pure, 
full-orbed truths of God's word came in close and 
certain succession from his lips, and fell with telling 
power on the hearts of the throng." 



VISITS EDINBUKGH. 101 

Mr. Sankey sang his sweet songs with touching 
pathos, and thus deepened the impression made by the 
outspoken words of Mr. Moody. The memory of that 
meeting, said a minister present, " will live till the last 
year of our lives ; and many a soul travelling home to 
God will think of it as one of the deep poo 's by the 
way, dug by the hand of a loving God for the refresh- 
ment of his children." 

By the labors of these two evangelists in Newcastle, 
the churches were awakened, sabbath schools increased, 
and Bibles circulated. A new style of religious life 
was introduced into Northumberland. " Never shall 
we forget," said a person present, " Mr. Moody's fare- 
well address to the delegates who had come from dis- 
tant counties to take leave of him. He would not say 
4 Good-by,' — no, ' Good-night ' rather, and meet them 
all in the morning in the dawn of the eternal day. 
Then strong men bowed and wept out their manly 
sorrow like children, — blessed children, as they were, 
of the same great Father." » 

Passing through Carlisle, where the Briton and the 
Scot had so often met in sanguinary conflict, the two 
evangelists arrived on the 22d of November in the 
celebrated city of Edinburgh, Scotland. Mr. Moody 
had some fears lest his visit here amongst the learned 
and wary Scotchmen, set as they were in their own 
theological opinions, might turn out to be a failure. 
" What," said he, " can such a man as I do up there 
amongst those great Scotch divines ? " The work was 



102 LEFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

indeed derided by some and vilified by others, while 
many good men were sorely perplexed at the methods 
of the evangelists and the agencies they employed. It 
was shocking to a real Scotchman to praise God with 
an organ ; and the simple heart-songs of Mr. Sankey 
were not by any means to be allowed to supplant the 
grand old psalms sung by the sainted Covenanters, and 
the long succession of holy men and women since wor- 
ship had been free in Scotland. But the power of God 
was with the evangelists. The difficulties one after 
another disappeared, and thousands were happily con- 
verted to God in the capital city of the North. The 
day after the arrival of the evangelists, Music Hall, 
which seats two thousand people, could not hold the 
crowds that thronged to hear them. A noon prayer- 
meeting was begun the following day, and inquiry- 
meetings followed almost every public service. Mr. 
Moody's constant reference to the Bible, and Mr. 
Sankey's beautiful songs, as " Hold the Fort," " Jesus 
of Nazareth passe th by," and " The Prodigal Child," 
greatly pleased the Scottish people. " One of the 
first things that impressed us," says the Rev. John 
Kelman, " was the extraordinary voracity of Mr. 
Moody's faith. We had been accustomed to go to the 
meetings, hoping God would bless us ; but Mr. Moody 
always said, ' We know that he will bless us.' ' " We 
are all delighted with them " [Moody and Sankey], 
wrote another, under date of Nov. 28, 1873 ; " ministers 
of all denominations are joining cordially in the service, 



THE INFIDEL CLUB. 103 

and God is indeed working graciously. About two 
thousand are out every night hearing. Two churches 
are to be opened simultaneously each night next week. 
The singing of Mr. Sankey lays the gospel message 
and invitation very distinctly and powerfully on the 
consciences of the people ; and Mr. Moody's gospel is 
clear, earnest, and distinct." 

On the 2d of December Mr. Moody made a most 
impressive address on " Where art thou? " in Brough- 
ton Place Church ; and at an inquiry meeting nearly 
three hundred, embracing students from the University, 
soldiers from the castle, old men of seventy years, the 
intemperate and the sceptical, listened as for life to the 
pointed words of the revivalist. At one of these meet- 
ings Mr. Moody said to the chairman of an infidel 
club, — 

" Would you like to have me pray for you ? " 

" Oh, yes ! I have no objection to your trying your 
hand on me, if you like ; but I think you will find me 
a match for you." 

Mr. Moody knelt down and prayed for him in ear- 
nest, and had the pleasure of knowing subsequently 
that this chairman and eighteen members of his club 
were converted to Christianity. 

The Free Church Assembly Hall, the largest public 
building in Edinburgh, and the established church, 
Assembly Hall, were crowded every evening to hear 
the urgent appeals of Mr. Moody, and the affecting 
gospel songs of the sweet singer. The secular press 



104 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 



... 



proclaimed the progress of the revival ; and people 
came from distant towns to share in its blessed influ- 
ence. Denominational distinctions were forgotten, and 
never before was the city so intent to hear the tidings 
of salvation. The theme of conversation everywhere 
was Jesus, and many souls were daily born into his 
kingdom. At the meeting on Sunday night, Dec. 29, 
in the Corn Exchange, Grass Market, about three thou- 
sand people of the poorer classes were present, and the 
most profound attention was paid to the pathetic 
stories and the halloAved songs. About six hundred 
men came up to the Assembly Hall from one of these 
meetings, fell on their knees, and professed themselves 
willing to serve the Lord. 

The meeting at the Tolbooth Church, Dec. 31, was 
perhaps the most interesting one held in Edinburgh. 
The house was thronged. The ministers and all were 
deeply affected. " The intense interest," says one who 
was present, " increased as midnight neared. Kneeling 
or with bowed heads, the whole great meeting with one 
accord prayed in silence ; and, while they did so, the 
city clocks successively struck the hour. The hushed 
silence continued five minutes more. Mr. Moody gave 
out ihe last two verses of the hymn, — 

' Jesus, lover of my soul.' 

And they all stood and sung, — 

< Thou, O Christ, art all I want.' 



FAREWELL MEETING AT ARTHUR'S SEAT. 105 

" The gates were ajar, and our hearts were pressed 
close to the heart of God. After a brief prayer the 
benediction was pronounced, and all began like one 
family to wish each other 4 a happy New Year.' ' 

The revival spirit, awakened in Edinburgh, spread 
through the whole of Scotland ; and constant applica- 
tions were made to the evangelists from ministers in 
other cities to come and aid them. A letter signed by 
all the leading pastors of Edinburgh was sent to every 
church in the country, urging it to make the great 
work of the American revivalists prominent in their 
supplications during the week of prayer. From this, 
many wonderful results ensued. Messrs. Moody and 
Sankey continued their labors in Edinburgh until Jan. 
21, 1874 ; and the whole city, as it were, came out to 
the slopes of Arthur's Seat to bid them an affectionate 
farewell. So greatly had this intelligent city been 
moved by these two humble men, that not less than 
three thousand converts were received into the 
churches ; and Dr. Horatius Bonar said that almost 
every Christian household had been blessed with one 
or more conversions. 

Mr. Moody was steadily gaining spiritual and intel- 
lectual strength, while his success in Edinburgh em- 
boldened him to go forward in his glorious mission. 

The manufacturing city of Glasgow, forty-two miles 
west of Edinburgh, and containing half a million peo- 
ple, was prepared to receive with open arms the evan- 
gelists. They commenced their labors here on the 8th 



106 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY, 



of February, 1874, by addressing a meeting of about 
three thousand sabbath-school teachers in the City Hall. 
The Bible readings of Mr. Moody met with great 
acceptance, while the soul-moving songs of Mr. Sankey 
3 .ent the word home to the heart. Helpers came from 
Edinburgh, the churches entered zealously upon the 
work ; and conversions, more especially among the edu- 
cated, multiplied every day, so that soon the whole city 
became alive to the revival. 

Three large churches near the City Hall were opened 
for simultaneous services, and vast assemblages received 
the glad tidings in the open air. At the first noon 
prayer-meeting fifteen hundred persons, some of them 
coming from distant towns, were present. At the 
meeting in the City Hall on Thursday evening, Mr. 
Moody spoke with wondrous power on the text, " Ex- 
cept a man be born again ; " and, when he invited those 
on the Lord's side to remain, more than a thousand 
people kept their places. On Sunday evening, Feb. 15, 
he addressed a vast assembly of men at the City Hall ; 
and when Mr. Sankey sung in his touching style, — 

' ' In the promises I trust, 

Xow I feel the blood applied; 
I am prostrate in the dust, 

I with Christ am crucified," — 

not a head in that great throng was seen to move. 
More than a thousand remained for prayer. On Mon- 
day evening, Feb. 16, as many as seven hundred Chris- 






WAITING. 107 

tian young men at the Erving Place Chapel agreed to 
meet every night to watch and pray for the conversion 
of the souls of their companions. On Sabbath morning, 
Feb. 22, Mr. Moody spoke in the City Hall to about 
three thousand Christian workers, from the text, " Send 
me." At the Erving Place Chapel, Feb. 24, a party of 
young men numbering one hundred and one took sides 
for Jesus ; and at the noon prayer-meeting on Thursday 
Mr. Moody said he had once, after most urgent solici- 
tation, preached in a rude church on the prairies, where 
one Christian woman continued praying day and night 
for the pleasure-loving young people whose only enjoy- 
ment seemed to be the song and the dance. A letter 
received that morning brought the cheering tidings that 
in that same spot thirty-two young men were now on 
the Lord's side and working for him. 

On Sabbath morning, March 1, he spoke with his 
usual power to three thousand young men of the Glas- 
gow Christian Associations, Mr. Sankey singing with 
great effect, — 

" Hold the fort, for I am coming." 

It is the aim of Mr. Moody to lead Christians to work 
for God, as well as pray to him. " Now," said Mr. 
Sankey in one of the assemblies, " is the time for work- 
ing. I saw on a tombstone at Stirling this word deeply 
carved in the stone, i Waiting.' There will be time 
for waiting by and by, but now is the time for work- 
ing." He then sang with great effect, — 



108 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

" Hark, the voice of Jesus crying, — 
Who will go and work to-day? 
Fields are white, and harvest waiting : 
Who will bear the sheaves away? " 

While meetings of children, of mothers, of young 
men, working-men, teachers, students, ministers, were 
held in almost all of the one hundred and forty churches 
of Glasgow during March and April, thousands and 
thousands were laboring personally for the conversior 
of souls. At one of the great meetings for children, th< 
boys, who were delighted with the simplicity of tht 
preaching and the sweetness of the songs, climbed up 
the stairs, filled the pulpit, and hung as bees in quest 
of honey around the speaker. So large was the attend- 
ance at the churches that the Crystal Palace was at 
length opened to the eager multitudes ; and, after seven 
thousand five hundred tickets had been distributed, 
hundreds applied in vain to gain admission. At one 
time the crowd, amounting to about twenty thousand, 
filled the whole space between the Palace and the 
Botanic Gardens, intent on hearing the words of the 
American evangelists. In his preaching Mr. Moody, 
unlike most revivalists, was business-like, unpoetical, 
often very blunt, but thoroughly in earnest; and his 
power was felt not only in every family in Glasgow, 
but, through the press and telegraphic wires, in every 
part of the United Kingdom. 

The writer was in Glasgow a year after the departure 
of the evangelists, when ample time had elapsed for 







FAREWELL AT GLASGOW. 




110 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

measuring the magnitude of the work of the evangelists. 
Noonday prayer-meetings were still sustained, in one of 
which a Lutheran pastor from the South of Germany 
testified that a year before he had been in Glasgow, and 
attended the meetings. He had been wonderfully blessed 
of God ; and, when he returned home to his work, the 
Lord in an extraordinary manner poured out his Spirit 
upon the people. Many in the villages in the neighbor- 
hood of his church were earnestly seeking salvation ; 
and he had returned to Glasgow for the reception of a 
new baptism, so that he could the better lead his flock. 
In private conversation with several of the most distin- 
guished clergymen of the city, one of them remarked 
that at that time, or within a space of a single twelve- 
month, more than three thousand people had joined the 
evangelical churches, and many more were ready to 
unite with them; another said that Mr. Moody had 
done more for the cause of temperance in Scotland than 
all the lecturers for the last twenty years, and that in 
Glasgow alone more than seventeen thousand had 
signed the pledge ; another averred that " dear auld 
Scotland had never seen such a year of blessing in all 
her history ; " and still another testified that Messrs. 
Moody and Sankey had done more to revolutionize the 
service of song in the churches, to liberalize the hard 
features of Scottish Calvinism, and to save Scotland 
from the terrible curse of strong drink, than had been 
done by any twenty men in the last three hundred 
years. 



RETURN TO EDINBURGH. Ill 

Besides all this, the revival in Glasgow took a practi- 
cal turn ; and, as never before, efforts were made to save 
the vicious and to help the worthy poor. So great was 
the activity of Christians, that they could not content 
themse]ves with ordinary church work ; but in the long 
evenings, when daylight lingers in this high latitude, 
in the open squares, on the bridges or at the corners of 
the streets, alone or in little companies, devoted Chris- 
tian men and women might be seen engaged in prayer, 
or making brief addresses to groups of listeners, or lead- 
ing the company in singing some of the favorite gospel 
hymns. 

In May the evangelists returned to Edinburgh, where 
on the 21st one of the largest assemblies ever seen 
in that city was gathered in the Queen's Park to hear 
for the last time the living words and touching music 
of the beloved heralds of salvation. 

During the summer of 1874, they visited most of 
the large towns in Scotland, and their names became 
as household words from the Cheviot Hills to John 
O'Groat's. Wherever they went, the pillar and the 
cloud went with them ; the work of God spread and 
prevailed, while Christians and happy converts rejoiced 
at the glorious manifestations of divine power. It was 
indeed a time of gladness to that land of many saints 
and martyrs ; and it seemed as if the hour were near at 
hand when the prayer of John Knox — "Give me 
Scotland, or I die " — was about to be fully answered. 

The first week in June, Messrs. Moody and Sankey 



112 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

spent at Perth, on the river Tay, where they spoke to 
crowded meetings. " It seemed," said one, " as if God 
had sent his servants to unlock the floodgates of his 
grace, and the water of life has swept out in deep and 
steady currents, leaving no place for the breaking 
waves of excitement and mere feeling." At Dundee a 
blessed work was done. At Aberdeen they spoke, 
June 14, in the natural amphitheatre of the Broadhill, 
to some twenty thousand anxious people. The songs 
" Almost Persuaded," " Come Home," and " The Lost 
Sheep," greatly affected them. Many conversions fol- 
lowed. They arrived at Tain, having about two thou- 
sand five hundred people, on the 13th of July. The 
church was densely crowded. About five hundred 
stood up for prayers, and tearful eyes testified to the 
power of song. At Huntley as many as fifteen thou- 
sand were present at the meeting in the open air ; yet 
Mr. Moody spoke so as to be heard by every person. 

An outdoor meeting was held at Elgin, July 23, 
which was said to be the largest ever seen in that city. 
It was on Lady Hill, and the spectacle was most impos- 
ing. " Thousands," says a writer, " hung spellbound 
on the speaker's lips. One often hears doubts as to the 
possibility of producing an impression in the open air, 
but there is no mistake this time. No, there is no mis- 
taking these long concentric arcs of wistful faces 
curving around the speaker, and these reluctant tears 
which conscious guilt has wrung from eyes unused to 
weep. Oh the power of the living Spirit of God ! Oh 



VISITS BELFAST. 113 

the fascination of the gospel of Christ ! Oh the glad- 
ness of the old, old story to these men and women 
hurrying to eternity ! " 

The last meeting which the evangelists held in Scot- 
land was at Rothesay, Sept. 3. This town has about 
seven thousand inhabitants, and stands at the head of a 
beautiful bay. The service was held by the seashore 
on the esplanade, as many as three thousand "persons 
being present. Mr. Moody spoke with remarkable 
energy. The exercises were continued into the even- 
ing ; the stars shone out brilliantly over the bay ; and 
the Spirit of God seemed present, turning the hearts of 
the spell-bound multitude to make ready for a joyous 
meeting in our Father's home on high. A mighty 
work had been accomplished in Scotland ; and the tide 
of religious feeling still rolls on to the praise, not of the 
human agents, but of the Son of God, who selects the 
weak things to confound the mighty. 

On the 6th of September, the two earnest workers 
began their labors of love in the industrial city of 
Belfast, Ireland. Success at once attended them. A 
daily prayer-meeting was commenced ; addresses were 
made to Christian workers ; the largest churches were 
densely crowded ; and, at an outdoor meeting in the 
Botanic Gardens, it is thought that as many as tv onty- 
five thousand persons were present. Many were con- 
verted. On Sunday, Sept. 13, an open-air meeting was 
held for the people working in the mills, where from 
ten to twenty thousand were present. 



114 LIFE OF DW1GHT LYMAN MOODY. 

While Mr. Sankey was singing, — 

" Jesus of Nazareth passeth by," — 

many people manifested their emotion by sighs and 
tears. At a meeting held on the 27th, more than two 
hundred young men came forward to acknowledge 
Jesus. "It was a sight," says one present, "which 
would have drawn tears of joy from any heart." On 
sabbath morning, Oct. 4, the people waiting to hear the 
evangelists stood closely packed over a field of about six 
acres. The impression made upon the multitude was 
very deep. On the 15th of October, Mr. Moody pre- 
sided over the noonday prayer meeting in St. Enoch's 
Church. It was held for those beginning to seek Jesus, 
and about twenty-four hundred persons were by tickets 
admitted. On the 17th the evangelists held their last 
meeting in Belfast. About three thousand were present. 
" It was," a writer says, " like the sound of many 
waters, to hear this multitude sing the new song. As 
all stood and sung in one burst of praise, — 

' Oh, happy day that fixed my choice ! ' — 

the effect was overpowering, filling the soul with a 
sweet foretaste of the praises of heaven." 

After a brief visit to Londonderry, where they won 
some trophies of grace, the revivalists commenced 
laboring in the city of Dublin, which contains about 
two hundred and fifty thousand people, on the 24th of 
October, and continued there until the 29th of Novem- 
ber. Many prayers had been offered there for their 



VIEW OF AN EPISCOPALIAN. 115 

success ; tracts concerning the glorious work in Scot- 
land had been distributed, noon prayer-meetings held, 
and the splendid glass building called the Exhibition 
Palace had been engaged for the assemblies. Day 
after day and night after night this vast edifice was 
crowded with anxious listeners, seeking to know the 
path of life. The evangelical ministers with one 
accord assisted in the various services, and people came 
from the distant counties to enjoy the refreshing from 
on high. 

" We have never before," wrote an Episcopal minis- 
ter, " seen such sights in Dublin. One feels that the 
Spirit of God is present, and that a wave of prayer is 
continually going up to the throne from the Lord's peo- 
ple. What is the magic power which draws together 
these mighty multitudes, and holds them spellbound ? 
It is the simple lifting up of the cross of Christ, the 
holding forth the Lord Jesus before the eyes of the 
people in all the glory of his Godhead. It is deeply 
instructive to see the things new and old which Mr. 
Moody draws in rich profusion from the treasury of 
God's word." " It is becoming," said the Rev. J. G. 
Phillips, u a more personal thing with many. It is not 
simply what Messrs. Moody and Sankey have to say, 
but it is, What have Christ and Christianity to do with 
ME?" Sometimes as many as seven hundred inquirers 
would remain after the ordinary services had closed, to 
learn what they must do to be saved. One old gentle- 
man of more than threescore years and ten at one of 



116 LIFE OF DWTGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

these meetings fell upon his knees, sobbing like a child. 
" I was utterly careless about my soul till last night," 
cried he ; " but I have been so unhappy since, I could 
not sleep. I seemed to hear ringing in my ears, ' Jesus 
of Nazareth is passing by ; ' and, if I don't get saved 
now, I never shall be.' Four of the daily papers pub- 
lished full reports of the different meetings, and the 
seeds of truth were thus sown broadcast over Ireland. 
Noblemen, military men, professors in the university, 
as well as ministers, lent their influence to carry on the 
revival; and in many instances the Roman Catholic 
priests were present at the meetings. Such cordial 
unity of sentiment had never before been known in 
Dublin. The straightforward, off-hand style of Mr. 
Moody, and his flashes of real mother-wit, combined 
with the heartfelt pathos of Mr. Sankey's singing, 
fairly captivated the Irish people ; and if the two could 
have remained long enough it is possible that St. 
Patrick might have been supplanted by them. A con- 
vention of three days, attended by more than eight 
hundred ministers and others from all parts of Ireland, 
closed the labors of the evangelists in Dublin. " Aged 
ministers," says one present, "bowed their gray heads 
and wept at times with joy. At one point during the 
discussion of Ireland, the central subject of the day, 
and when Mr. Sankey, seizing the opportunity with his 
usual tact, sang ' Hold the Fort ' alone, and the minis- 
ters and people lifted up the chorus in a mighty shout, 
the enthusiasm was overpowering and altogether inde- 



SHEFFIELD. 117 

scribable. It was the first time that all those ministers 
had met on a platform broader than their churches; and 
it is easy to see already that the impression on the 
country is very deep." 

Leaving Ireland, the evangelists spent the month of 
December in the great manufacturing city of Manches- 
ter. It is a sad confession, but none the less true, that 
the factory system of England tends to the demoraliza- 
tion of the people. The blood and brains and muscles, 
if not the souls, of multitudes of the men and women 
of Manchester are used up in the production of cheap 
yarns and cloths for the various markets of the world. 
Thousands and thousands of poor, uncared-for people 
here, who had heard but few words of encouragement, 
and fewer still of love and blessing, received the good 
news of salvation from the lips of the revivalists, and 
caught a glimpse of heaven that will help them on till 
they behold the King in his beauty. 

Proceeding from Manchester to Sheffield, a city of 
about two hundred and fifty thousand people, and 
famous for its cutlery, the two co-workers began their 
services on the last night of the year, and remained in 
the place, speaking to immense congregations in Albert 
Hall and other places ; the interest continuing to in- 
crease until the departure of the evangelists, on the 
17th of January, 1875, for Birmingham. This city of 
four hundred thousand people has been called " the toy- 
shop of the world." It received the gospel gladly, and 
was the scene of the most wonderful triumphs of the 



118 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

grace of God. The revival was the theme of conversa- 
tion in every home, every office, every manufactory ; 
and multitudes were brought to confess allegiance to 
Jesus Christ. 

The people of these manufacturing cities are noted 
for their liberal and republican ideas ; they have often 
listened to the eloquent orations of the great modern 
English statesmen ; but the simple utterances of Mr. 
Moody pleased them more than the studied rhetoric of 
their ablest speakers. His honest Saxon way of stating 
Bible truths produced conviction, and led many to 
declare for Jesus. 

" On a dull, raw, and inclement Sunday morning in 
January, such is the magic of their names," said " The 
News," " that they can crowd a large hall in the 
centre of a practical, industrial town, with worshippers, 
at an hour which would be considered early even on a 
week-day. That same evening they attract to a still 
larger edifice crowds which would be unusual in a 
period of intense national excitement. Again at noon- 
day, when the bench and the desk chain their workers 
with the strongest bonds, thousands after thousands 
throng to meet them at the prayer-meeting until the 
Town Hall presents the appearance of a gigantic bee- 
hive, swarming with masses of people. ISTor does the 
story close here. In the evening at Bingley Hall is 
gathered together an assembly which equals the popu- 
lation of many towns. A small harmonium, a few 
simple hymns, and short, stirring addresses on religious 



VISIT TO LONDON. 119 

topics, comprise all that the public see or hear; yet 
the influence of Messrs. Moody and Sankey is over- 
whelming." The results mentioned were greater love 
and activity among believers, many conversions, and 
many drawn to listen to the gospel. 

In the mean time, zealous Christian men were raising 
a vast structure capable of holding eleven thousand 
persons, and called Victoria Hall, in the heart of Liver- 
pool, for the use of the evangelists. This was the first 
one built for them. Here from the 7th of February 
to the 7th of March they labored with their wonted 
fervor, and with even greater success than they had 
previously seen. The Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion was very active, Christians were united, the taber- 
nacle was capacious, and every thing conspired to make 
the meetings most effectual in bringing souls to Christ. 
Being in Liverpool three months subsequent to the 
departure of the evangelists, the writer found that at 
least two meetings a day had been, up to that time, 
held in Victoria Hall, and that, while he was attending 
service there, several persons were awakened and re- 
solved to seek the Lord. 

Leaving Liverpool on the 9th of March, the evange- 
lists went at once to London, and commenced their 
mission in the great metropolis, not only of the British 
empire, but of the world. It is a nation of itself, 
made up of all kinds of peoples, languages, and reli- 
gions. It abounds in churches, schools, museums, and 
places of amusement. It is the home, for half the year 



120 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

at least, of the royal family, and most of the nobility of 
the realm. It has vast masses of the poorest of the 
poor, more than one hundred thousand known and 
recorded criminals, and is demoralized to a lamentable 
degree by the use of strong drink. At the same time, 
its wealth is immense, and nowhere on the face of the 
globe is there greater indulgence in luxurious living. 
To gain the attention of four millions of such people, 
scattered over a territory twenty miles in length by ten 
in width, is no mean undertaking. Yet Messrs. Moody 
and Sankey did this; or, rather, God did it through 
them. 

As London, like the city spoken of in Revelation, 
lies four-square, the plan was to reach in order every 
section. Four centres for operation were selected, — 
first, the great Agricultural Hall in North London, 
capable of seating fourteen thousand ; second, the 
Royal Opera House at the West End, the aristocratic 
part of the town ; third, the Bow Road Hall in East 
London, a building created for revival services, and 
holding about ten thousand ; and, fourth, the Camber- 
well Hall in South London, erected for the use of the 
evangelists. In these several centres of aggressive 
work, the two men of God labored with unremitting 
devotion from the 9th of March till the 12th of July. 
The results were such as to surprise all beholders, and 
bring delight to all who love the cause of Christ. 
From my own personal observation and from inquiries, 
the conclusion reached was that the city in all its 



RESULTS OF THE REVIVAL. 121 

history had never before seen such displays of the 
power of God in the conversion of men of all 
classes and conditions. The number of the saved 
was far above the anticipation of the most hope- 
ful. 

In conversation with the well-known Newman Hall, 
he made the remark that never before had any Chris- 
tian minister of the dissenting churches succeeded in 
getting the ear of the titled nobility of England, who, 
as a class, were in sympathy with the Established 
Church. " But," continued he, " your American evan- 
gelists have brought us all together, and now the most 
common thing is to see the highest people in the land 
at these meetings. Many times they are seen sitting 
side by side with the poorest." 

Eternity can alone reveal the influences of these 
London meetings ; and doubtless they will be felt as 
long as time endures. One of the grandest of English 
pulpit orators has said, " The moral state of England 
is of immeasurable importance to the whole human 
race ; " and this we know to be true, because the rela- 
tions of England extend to every part of the globe. 
Hence the mighty reformation in London has been 
world-wide in its bearings. It has swept across the 
Channel, and is a living power in France and Germany ; 
it reaches every other nation in Europe ; it touches 
Africa ; it is felt in India, China, and far-off Australia. 
The songs of Mr. Sankey, and the sermons of Mr. 
Moody, are translated into the language of Madagascar, 



122 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

and are enjoyed by those most recently converted in 
the lands of heathenism. 

The universality of the revival work in Great Britain 
was continually manifesting itself to the writer, during 
a long-extended tour through that country. Mr. Moody 
was quoted and commended in a sermon preached in 
the cathedral before the Archbishop of York. The 
press, almost without exception, was in sympathy, more 
or less pronounced, with the movement. Mr. Moody's 
addresses and sermons were printed and scattered 
broadcast over the whole United Kingdom ; and the 
hymns sung by Mr. Sankey were circulated by the 
million. It was a pleasure never to be forgotten, to 
hear ten thousand Londoners singing heartily " Hold 
the Fort," and other familiar songs. Everybody 
seemed to know them ; and in the cars, the homes of 
the people, as well as in the churches, they were heard. 
It was almost impossible to get out of the reach of 
these holy, heavenly melodies. The hearts of the old 
and young were filled with them. 

In various places not visited by the evangelists, 
devout Christians were full of zeal for God, and were 
doing the best they could to hold revival meetings 
after the style of the men whose fame had entered every 
hamlet in the land; and their efforts were in many 
instances attended with success. It was especially 
pleasant to observe that the labors of these two earnest 
men had a tendency to bind England and America in 
closer bonds. No plans of diplomates, no carefully 






KESULTS OF THE REVIVAL. 123 

digested treaties, no congresses of the advocates of 
universal peace, have ever done so much to unify the 
two nations, as these two God-gifted men. The kind- 
ness of feeling existing, especially among the middling 
and the lower classes, towards America and the 
Americans, was simply marvellous. The cause of this, 
to a very marked extent, is attributable to the direct 
or indirect influences of Mr. Moody's words and Mr. 
Sankey's songs. Millions of English Christians felt 
themselves strangely in love with American Christians, 
full of good-will to our country and her institutions, 
and desirous of her future welfare ; and though they 
might not love their own form of government any the 
less, nor abate their loyalty to their Queen, yet it was 
evident that they were ready to fraternize most cor- 
dially with their fellow-disciples across the sea. There 
was enough Christianity in the two nations ten years 
ago to enable them to forego a bloody quarrel, and after- 
wards to settle by arbitration a case that seemed almost 
beyond honorable and peaceful adjustment. But there 
is more of real Christlikeness in both nations now, and 
we can hardly conceive of circumstances in which their 
kindred people should resort to war. American evan- 
gelism in England and English evangelism in America 
antedate the dawn of the millennial glory destined 
soon to break upon this long-benighted world. The 
Christians of the British Isles, standing shoulder to 
shoulder with the Christians of America, and marching 
beneath the folds of the radiant banner of the Prince of 



124 



LITE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 



peace, shall right speedily fill the world with their 
paeans of victory. May God hasten the time, and bless 
all who pray and labor for a consummation so much to 
be desired ! 






CHAPTER VI. 

THE EVANGELISTS RETURN TO AMERICA. — THEIR WORK IN 
BROOKLYN. — IN PHILADELPHIA. —IN NEW YORK. 

Farewell to England. — Mr. Moody visits Northfield. — His Bible. — 
How lie is Supported. — His Brother Converted. — Begins to preach 
at Brooklyn. — The First Meeting. — A Battle-Field. — The Singing of 
Mr. Sankey. — Conversion of an Infidel. — The Interest deepens. — 
"Hold the Fort." — How God forgives Sin. — Dr. Cuyler's Account 
of the "Work. — Meeting of Ministers. — Letters to Converts Abroad. 

— "Only Trust Him." — Mr. Moody's Activity. — Conversion of a 
Lady. — Preparations in Philadelphia. — The Old Freight Depot. — 
The Opening Service. — The Classes of People attending. — How a 
London Lady works for Christ. — Cause of the Success of the Revi- 
valists. — Thanksgiving Day. — President Grant. — Midnight Watch- 
Meeting for Sabbath-School Teachers. — George H. Stuart's Letter. 

— Results. — Closing Words to Converts. — The Orange-Tree. — Visit 
to Princeton. 

"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto 
salvation to every one that beheveth." — St. Paul. 

" What means this eager, anxious throng, 
Which moves with busy haste along, — 
These wondrous gatherings day by day? 
What means this strange commotion, pray? 
In accents hushed the throng reply, — 
Jesus of Nazareth passeth by." — Emma Campbell. 

After a farewell meeting of great interest held in 
Camberwell Hall, July 11, in which the Earl of 
Shaftesbury said that if the American evangelists had 

125 



126 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

done no more than to teach the people to sing as they 
did such hymns as — 

" Hold the fort, for I am coming," — 

they had by this alone conferred on them an estimable 
blessing, the party left for Liverpool, where an enthusi- 
astic assembly of seven thousand persons greeted them, 
and received their parting benediction. Many followed 
them in the tender to the steamer " Spain," in which 
they took passage for America, arriving at New York 
on the 14th of August, 1875. During the voyage the 
passengers enjoyed the songs of Mr. Sanke}^, who, on 
being asked how he and his co-laborer had been able to 
do such a wonderful work in Great Britain, replied, 
" God was in it." 

Mr. Moody repaired at once to the old homestead in 
Nortlifield, where he received a most cordial greeting 
from his beloved mother and the family circle ; and in 
the seclusion of that quiet town wrote sermons, and 
pursued for a while the study of the word of God. 
His Bible is a curiosity. These words on the flyleaf, 
" D. S. Moody, Dublin, December, 1872. God is love. 
W. Fay," — indicate the donor, and the time and place 
where it was given. It is full of lines and references 
made with ink of different colors ; and the margins of 
almost every page are covered with written comments, 
annotations, and the heads of sermons, all evincing 
close and critical searching for the honey of the sacred 
volume. As an heir examines the will conferring a 



HIS BROTHER CONVERTED. 127 

grand inheritance, so intently Mr. Moody studies the 
Bible. " What would you know," says he, " of your 
boy's letter, if you were to read the superscription on 
Monday, look at the signature on Friday, and read a 
little of the middle of it three months afterwards ? I 
get tired towards the end of Jul} 7 , and I go away to the 
mountains. I take the Bible with me. I read it 
through, and I feel as if I had never seen the book 
before. I have spent most of my life in reading and 
expounding it, yet it seems as if I had never seen it. 
It is so new, so rich, so varied, the truth flashing from 
a thousand unexpected and undiscovered points, with a 
light above the brightness of the sun. That summer 
reading of the Bible is what I call tuning the instru- 
ment." Mr. Moody has bought a little place near that 
of his mother, overlooking the fair valley of the Con- 
necticut River, with the SuGrar-Loaf Mountain on the 
south, and the Green Mountains on the west; and in 
this sjdvan home he reposes and refits himself for his 
evangelistic labor. His sister, Mrs. J. Bigelow Walker, 
is now occupying the house. But, as this lay preacher 
takes no compensation for his services, how is he sup- 
ported ? In answer to this question, it is said that his 
friend John V. Farwell and other liberal Christians once 
remarked to him, " We know you want to go out and 
preach : you ought to do it. Go ahead, and we will see 
that you have the means." It is fortunate for Mr. 
Moody that he has such noble friends, since that 
anxiety for temporal support, which disturbs the peace 



INVITED TO BROOKLYN. 129 

of so many servants in the Lord's vineyard, being 
removed, he can give himself wholly to the revival- 
work. While at Northfield many people came from 
distant towns to hear him preach ; and among the con- 
versions which he had the pleasure of seeing was that 
of his beloved brother Samuel. " He became," says 
Mr. Moody, " an active Christian ; and, when they 
decided to have a Young Men's Christian Association 
for that town, they elected him for a president. Oh, 
that was a blessed day for me, w T hen my brother, con- 
verted to God after twenty years of prayer, took 
charge of that little band ! I heard him make his first 
speech, and that seemed the happiest day of my life. 
He searched for souls on both sides of the Connecticut 
River. More conversions took place after I left than 
when I was there. . . . No one knows how I loved 
him, and how I rejoiced with great joy." 

The surprising results of the labors of Messrs. Moody 
and Sankey in Great Britain led some progressive 
Christians in the city of Brooklyn, N.Y., to secure their 
services towards the close of the year 1875. The public 
curiosity was excited, and extensive preparations, tem- 
poral and spiritual, were made. Subscriptions in money 
were obtained, the Rink on Clermont Avenue, capable 
of seating about five thousand, was provided for the 
preaching, and Mr. Talmage's Tabernacle for the 
prayer-meetings. Ministers and laymen with remarka- 
ble unanimity engaged in the good work ; union meet- 
ings were held for prayer; and a new book of songs was 
published for the use of the worshippers. 



130 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

Some fears, indeed, were entertained, lest the revi- 
valists would fail to make the same impression here that 
they had done abroad, since there the songs and ser- 
mons were a novelty. But on the 24th of October the 
evangelical co-partners came up to the contest in the 
panoply of God; and the expectations of their most 
zealous friends were more than realized. 

" Ah, Lord God ! behold, thou hast made the heaven 
and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out 
arm, " said Mr. Moody as he commenced his work in 
Brooklyn ; " and there is nothing too hard for thee." 
So by His strength they won the public ear, and many 
hearts to Jesus. 

The services at the Rink began at half-past eight 
o'clock on Sunday morning ; but long before that time 
arrived, the streets were thronged with people eager to 
see and hear the men of whom such marvellous ac- 
counts had come from England. They surged into the 
building, which was quickly filled ; and the doors were 
closed upon the disappointed crowd. Messrs. Moody 
and Sankey appeared upon the platform (on which a 
choir of two hundred and fifty singers was seated) at 
the appointed hour; and silence reigned in the vast 
congregation. Mr. Moody then rose, and gave out 
from the " Gospel Hymns," — 

" Rejoice and be glad ! the Redeemer has come," — 

which was sung by Mr. Sankey and the choir. Some 
one then present describes Mr. Moody as having " a 



THE FIEST MEETING. 131 

ruddy, almost English face, covered to the cheek-bones 
with a heavy brown beard and moustache ; " and as 
having also a husky tenor voice which he sent forth 
with earnestness and power. After a prayer by one 
of the ministers present, Mr. Sankey sung or rather 
chanted with great effect, — 

" Hark, the voice of Jesus crying, — 
Who will go and work to-day ? " 

when Mr. Moody rose, and delivered a thrilling ad- 
dress from Num. xiii. 30, " Let us go up at once, and 
possess it." The intense earnestness of the speaker 
held the audience breathless. " I say to you to-day," 
said he, " there is only one obstacle to a revival ; and 
that is the unbelief in the churches. Sinners and the 
Devil cannot stop a revival : it is only the unbelief of 
the Church that can do it. If we will trust God, we 
need not fear the rumsellers nor the sabbath-breakers. 
It is not we who fight, but God through us. You would 
laugh at seven priests marching around the walls of 
Jericho, blowing ram's horns. If the doctors of Brook- 
lyn were to blow trumpets, you would say they should 
be silver or gold. But God's, way is not our way. I 
would like to speak through a ram's horn to the forty 
thousand ministers of the United States to-day, and 
ask whether they are ready to fall into line and go up 
and possess the land." — . " We are all ready," cried Mr. 
Stuart of Philadelphia. " Then," continued Mr. Moody 
amidst great sensation, " let us go up and possess 



132 LIFE OF DWTGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

the land." When Mr. Moody closed, his coadjutor 
sung most appropriately and affectingly the song by 
Mr. Bliss, — 

" Only an armor-bearer, proudly I stand, 
Waiting to follow at the King's command." 

Of this first meeting Dr. Cuyler said, " It has been a 
great awakening for the Brooklyn people. There is 
not another man in the world but Moody who could 
have got them out of bed at such an hour on Sunday 
morning." The most rapid phonographic reporters 
found it impossible to keep pace with Mr. Moody in 
his most impassioned utterances, sometimes at the rate 
of two hundred and twenty words a minute ; but his 
most important thoughts were taken, and by the public 
press disseminated through the world. In the after- 
noon, thousands were unable to gain access to the 
Rink, and what are called " overflow-meetings " were 
held in several of the neighboring churches. Mr. 
Moody's theme was from 1 Cor. i. 1, " I declare unto 
you the gospel," which, after the singing of " The 
Ninety and Nine " by Mr. Sankey, he developed with 
surprising earnestness and power; closing with this 
telling illustration : — 

" A friend of mine in Paris said that, when Prussia 
was at war with France, they went out one night 
to bring in the wounded men. They were afraid 
to take out lights, for fear of getting bullets from the 



A BATTLE-FIELD. 133 

enemy. When they thought they had taken up all the 
wounded, and all was silent on the field, a man from a 
high spot of ground cried in a loud voice, asking if 
there were any who wished to be taken into Paris, and 
telling them that the ambulance was ready. Before he 
spoke it was silent ; but the moment he ceased speak- 
ing, and the men knew that there was help, there was 
a cry all over the field. Now, I come to-day to tell you 
there is One willing to save, that there is help. Let 
a cry go up, Shepherd, save me from death and hell ! 
This is the gospel. We have no new gospel. Some 
will say that ; it is the old story ; we thought we were 
going to hear something new : ' but we have nothing 
new ; we have only the old gospel. This to me is as 
fresh as it was twenty years ago : and, when I give up 
preaching this gospel, I shall go to farming or some- 
thing else ; for I know not what else to do." Thus 
the work of the evangelists in the " City of Churches'* 
was most auspiciously begun. 

It was arranged that during the week meetings should 
be held at the Tabernacle, commencing at eight o'clock 
in the morning, and in the evening at the Rink. At the 
first meeting in the former place, every seat was filled, 
a great number of ministers being present. The beau- 
tiful hymn, u Sweet Hour of Prayer, " was sung by the 
vast audience, and Mr. Moody spoke with telling effect 
upon the theme that " Nothing is too hard for God." 
In the evening at the Rink, which was densely crowded, 
and after singing " I need Thee every Hour, " " Free 



134 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMA^ MOODY. 

from the Law, Oh ! Happy Condition, " and "Jesus of 
Nazareth passeth by, " Mr. Moody spoke from Rom. iii. 
22, " There is no Difference ; " showing by apt illustra- 
tions how Christ brings us out by substitution from the 
penalty of the law. The singing of Mr. Sankey was so 
felicitously adapted to the subject, and so touchingly 
pathetic, that a profound impression was made upon 
the audience. Mr. Moody treats spiritual themes in a 
business-like and practical manner, without any sort of 
cant or affectation. His language frequently is very 
plain, sometimes ungrammatical : hence the songs of 
Mr. Sankey, which are characterized by a certain Scot- 
tish tenderness, come in to complement what is wanting 
in the speaker. It is certainly the fitting union of the 
two that makes the whole complete. 

In his Tuesday morning's service, Mr. Moody said, 
" I have hopes of the work in Brooklyn, not from the 
crowds at the Rink, but from these throngs at the 
morning prayer-meetings. Let us unite in this work, 
that a wail may go up from this city, ' Lord, what can I do 
to be saved? ' We must shut ourselves up in our closets 
every day, and pray until his gifts are bestowed. In 
London I knew a woman who had an infidel husband. 
She prayed every day for him, for a whole year ; not suc- 
ceeding, she resolved to pray every day for six months 
longer. One day on going to her room, she found him 
there praying, ' O God, be merciful to me a sinner ! ' He 
is a great business man in Europe, and has built a 
church at his own expense." 












"HOLD THE FORT." 135 

It was evident that the special presence of God was 
in the meetings, kindling the hearts of ministers and 
people, producing unity of sentiment among Christians, 
and bringing many of the unconverted, especially young 
men, to seek salvation. Many requests were made for 
prayer, many inquiry-meetings were held, and many 
churches were quickened in the revival work. Day 
after day, week after week, the religious interest deep- 
ened, and Mr. Moody said, " I have nowhere found more 
impressionable audiences than in Brooklyn; and the 
most encouraging feature is the union of the churches." 

On Sunday morning, Oct. 31, Mr. Moody preached 
with his usual fervor to a vast concourse of people in 
the Rink, on courage and enthusiasm, and in his ser- 
mon said, " I would rather have a man with zeal and 
wanting in knowledge, than a man of much learning 
and little zeal. The former may do much good in the 
world: the latter helps no one but himself;" and when 
he prayed, " May God give us the holy fire of heaven! " 
the " amens" from the audience testified to the impres- 
sion which he made. In giving out the hymn, " Hold 
the Fort, for I am coming," he said that during the 
Rebellion one of the Union officers in command of a 
fort closely invested by Gen. Hood was by the distress 
of his men almost persuaded to surrender the position, 
when he received a despatch from Gen. Sherman to 
this effect : " Hold the fort, for I am coming. — W. T. 
Sherman." It inspired the soldiers with confidence : 
they kept up courage, and were saved. "Mr. Sankey," 



136 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

says a writer, "produced a remarkable effect by the 
manner in which he rendered the last line, ' Victory is 
nigh,' and dwelt with redoubled force upon the word 
1 Hold ' until the vast chorus of singers had caught the 
spirit and action of the leader." In the afternoon at 
the Rink, services were held exclusively for women, 
when more than six thousand were present ; at the 
same time Mr. Needham, a well-known Irish revivalist, 
held an " overflow-meeting " in one of the churches. At 
the prayer-meeting on Monday morning following, Mr. 
Moody appointed a fast for Nov. 12 ; and in the even- 
ing at the Rink he preached his celebrated sermon on 
the " Lif ting-up of the Son of Man," in which he said 
with great emphasis, "If there is any one here who 
will be lost, it will not be because Adam sinned six 
thousand years ago, but because he fails to accept the 
religion of Jesus Christ, which can save any man." 
During the prayer-meeting, at which the writer was 
present, Wednesday, Nov. 3, Mr. Sankey sung with 
exquisite tenderness Miss Fanny J. Crosby's beautiful 

song, — 

" Pass me not, O gentle Saviour! 

Hear my humble cry : 

While on others thou art smiling, 

Do not pass me by," — 

and Mr. Moody commented interestingly on the one 
hundred and third Psalm, saying : — 

" If the Lord forgives at all, he forgives all our sins. 









HOW GOD FORGIVES SIN. 137 

Ezekiel says they are not even mentioned. They are 
rolled into the sea of forgetfulness. We greatly dis- 
honor God by bringing up onr sins after he has forgiven 
them. Hundreds of Christians are all the time doing 
this. Suppose my little child has disobeyed me, and 
comes to me and says, 4 Papa, I did what you told me 
not to do : I want to be forgiven.' She has deep and 
genuine repentance. I kiss away her tears, and forgive 
her. She then comes to me the next day, and wants to 
talk about it. ' No,' says I, 4 it is all forgiven.' The 
next day she says, ' Papa, won't you forgive me for that 
sin I did two days ago ? ' I think it would grieve 
me. Suppose she came to me every morning for six 
months : would it not grieve me and dishonor me ? 
God has not only forgiven our sins, but removed them 
for time and eternity. Ought one to dishonor and 
grieve him by bringing them up before him every 
day ? " 

Mr. Moody's remarks were pointed and logical, clos- 
ing with an unstudied but effective climax. His Bible- 
readings in the afternoon were numerously attended, 
and served to deepen the revival spirit. In the even- 
ing at the Rink he preached on, " The Son of man is 
come to seek and to save that which was lost," and 
closed with a prayer so affecting that many of the 
audience wept, and his own voice was choked by his 
emotion. In the evening service at the Rink on 
Friday, Nov. 5, Mr. Moody spoke on " Where art 
thou ? " and said in his discourse, " Oh that God would 



138 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

wake up the slumbering church of today, when men 
count themselves good Christians if they attend church 
and criticise the sermon ! " 

At the last of the three meetings on Sunday, Nov. 7, 
tickets were issued to those not professing religion ; 
but many were unable to gain admission. At this 
service about three thousand copies of the gospel were 
distributed ; and Mr. Moody, after prayer and the sing- 
ing of " The Ninety and Nine," preached with much 
feeling on the tender compassion of Christ. During the 
service a woman fainted, when some one called out for 
a physician. Improving the occasion, the preacher 
said, " I have the Great Physician to offer you : he will 
cure your sins, and wipe out the stains of your soul, as 
well as heal your body." At the close of the second 
week's work, Dr. Cuyler wrote, "God's people keep 
in sweet unison. The press, secular as well as religious, 
continues its good behavior. Many souls are rejoicing 
in a new birth. . . . One of the grandest blessings of 
the week has been Brother Moody's three afternoon 
lectures on ' Studying God's Word.' He has made the 
Bible a new book to hundreds." 

The revival meetings continued through the third 
week with deepening interest. Five meetings were 
held on Thursday, at one of which a German pastor 
spoke of a young man who was converted by hearing 
Mr. Sankey sing Mr. P. P. Bliss's hymn, "Almost 
persuaded." In the Bible-reading upon " Grace," Mr. 
Moody said he believed John Bunyan would thank God 



LETTERS TO CONVERTS ABROAD. 139 

for Bedford Jail, and that the Devil found a match in 
him. On Friday, Nov. 12, the day appointed for fast- 
ing, nearly one hundred ministers were present at the 
early prayer-meeting in the Lay College ; and many of 
them fell upon their knees, confessing their jealousies 
and hard-heartedness. At the meeting in the Taberna- 
cle, which was crowded, after the singing of " Hold 
the Fort," Mr. Moody said, speaking of Daniel, " He 
held on to prayer until he heard from heaven. So let 
us hold fast at this hour until we get the desire of our 
hearts." It was a precious season to all present. 

Mr. Moody wrote this day to his converts in Great 
Britain a very affectionate letter, in which he says, 
" Pack your memories full of passages of Scripture, with 
which to meet Satan when he comes to tempt or accuse 
you ; and be not content to know, but strive to obey, the 
word of God. Never think that Jesus has commanded 
a trifle, nor. dare to trifle with any thing he has com- 
manded. I exhort the young women to great modera- 
tion. . . . Keep one little thought in mind, — I have 
none but Jesus to please. And so make your dress as 
simple as you know will please your Lord ; make your 
deportment as modest as you know will commend itself 
to him." 

On Sunday afternoon Mr. Moody preached exclu- 
sively to the women admitted on tickets, taking for his 
subject " Trust." After many earnest appeals to his 
audience, he invited those who were willing to trust 
the Lord to rise. Most of the congregation did so, and 



140 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

he then gave out the hymn, " Only trust Him," asking 
those who had arisen to sing the chorus, — 

" Only trust him, only trust him," — 

which they did. 

" Now," said Mr. Sankey, " can't we sing it, * I will 
trust him ' ? and at the end he said, " Now let us sing 
it, ' I do trust him ! ' " — u Yes," interrupted Mr. Moody, 
"sing it if you can, but don't lie." New voices were 
added to the chorus, when Mr. Moody cried impetuously, 
" Sing on ! we're making heaven glad this afternoon ; 
but don't sing a lie." After it had been several times 
repeated, he continued, " Now we'll sing it as a doxol- 
ogy, and then go home." 

The revivalists closed their labors in Brooklyn on 
Friday, the 19th of November, the demand for tickets 
of admission and the tide of religious interest continu- 
ing to rise until the last. During their brief stay in 
the city it is estimated that as many as three thousand 
persons attended the inquiry-meetings, and as many as 
twenty thousand persons heard the gospel daily from 
their lips. During the last twelve days the committee 
issued a hundred and twenty-five thousand tickets of 
admission ; and the desire to hear the co-laborers be- 
came more intense as the time for their departure drew 
near. 

The activity of Mr. Moody during his stay in Brook- 
lyn was amazing. From it ministers who complain that 
preaching one day in seven is above their strength may 



CONVEESION OF A LADY. 141 

learn a salutary lesson. He conducted daily a great 
morning meeting at the Tabernacle, a Bible meeting in 
the afternoon, preached a sermon in the evening at the 
Rink, attended an inquiry-meeting after it, and then, 
returning to the Tabernacle, addressed at nine, P.M., a 
congregation of young men. Few preachers know what 
they can do until the Holy Spirit moves them to bring 
forth all their power for the conversion of their fellow- 
men. 

When the revival was at its height, a very wealthy, 
cultivated, and sceptical lady from New York went 
over to hear Mr. Moody preach. She was amazed and 
a little disgusted by his style of oratory. But for some 
reason, which probably she could not have denned, she 
went again ; still again. On her fourth visit she passed 
into the inquiry-room, and said to Mr. Moody that she 
would like to hear from him, directly and privately, 
his argument why she should become a Christian. He 
answered her, saying, " Madam, I know of no surer 
way to reach your heart than through prayer. Let us 
pray." Mr. Moody knelt. His manner was such that 
the lady could not choose, but knelt beside him. He 
asked her to repeat after him his prayer. In low, ear- 
nest tones, and with all the tender and pathetic phrase- 
ology of which on occasions he is master, he uttered his 
supplication, pausing after each sentence for his com- 
panion to follow. The prayer concluded with the 
vow, — 

" And now, Lord, I give my life to thee ! " 



142 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

" Mr. Moody," said the lady, in a hard, painful whis* 
per, " I cannot say that : truly I cannot." 

Mr. Moody made no reply, nor did he change his 
position. There was a pause of half a minute. Then 
again he uttered the words, — 

" And now, O Lord, I give my life to thee." 

The lady, trembling, did not respond. The evangel- 
ist paused for about the same space as before, motion- 
less. And now, with a voice still more resolute and 
fervid, he repeated for the third time the pledge. 
After a momentary interval of silence, the new con- 
vert said, — 

" And now, O Lord, I give my life to thee." 

Mr. Moody rose, took his weeping charge by the 
hand with the words, " Madam, I devoutly thank God," 
and led her quietly to the door. She has ever since 
been actively employed in religious work. 

It is impossible to tell numerically the results of the 
revival: but while many conversions, manifesting the 
gracious presence of the Lord, occurred from day to 
day, the sacred flame of love to God and man was made 
to burn more radiantly in many a Christian heart ; and 
thousands of ministers and teachers who had come from 
afar to catch new inspiration for their work went home 
to infuse fresh life into the spirits of those whom they 
instructed. The press, too, spread the living words of 
truth among the people, reaching millions daily who 
could not personally come within the magnetic influence 
of the great evangelists. 



THE REVIVALISTS IN PHILADELPHIA. 143 

Arrangements were made for Messrs. Moody and 
Sankey to commence laboring in Philadelphia on the 
21st of November. An old freight depot on Thir- 
teenth and Market Streets was hired for two months, 
and fitted up at an expense of about twenty thousand 
dollars, by the liberality of the noble Christian, John 
Wannamaker ; and a choir of six hundred singers, under 
the direction of William S. Fischer, was well trained 
for the occasion. The vast auditorium was provided 
with more than ten thousand chairs, and mottoes from 
the Bible were inscribed in large scarlet letters on the 
walls. Lighted by about a thousand gas-burners, and 
filled with people, this immense room presented a 
magnificent appearance. 

The Philadelphians are proverbially sober, staid, and 
quiet ; the ministers and churches undemonstrative and 
averse to change. It was, then, with many a serious 
question whether the revivalists would ever fill the 
building, or make any durable impression on the public 
mind. The clergymen were not very well united, nor 
had there been any such preparatory prayer as opened 
the way for the work in Brooklyn. But the words of 
the Bible and the hearts of men are everywhere the 
same ; and, when brought together by the burning 
tongue of some God-appointed prophet, the result is 
ever the same. Great expectations had been raised 
on the part of the friends of the movement, for the 
opening of the work on Sunday, Nov. 21. But the 
rain came down in torrents ; the seats in the churches 



144 



LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 




THE CLASSES OF PEOPLE ATTENDING. 145 

generally were vacant. At the morning service in the 
Market-street Tabernacle, however, there were at least 
nine thousand people present. The aim of Mr. Moody 
here, as in other places, was to awaken Christians to 
the necessity of personal labor for the salvation of their 
fellow-men. After prayer by the Rev. Dr. Richard 
Newton, the reading of the Scriptures, and the singing 
of the hymn by Mr. Sankey, — 

" Ring the bells of heaven," — 

Mr. Moody said, " Some ask, ' What is the object of 
these special meetings ? are there not churches and 
ministers enough in Philadelphia ? We have come 
just to help. In the time of the harvest, extra help 
is needed; and harvest time is now. I have been in 
the school of Christ for twenty years, and I have never 
seen a better time than ' the present. We are right in 
the midst of the blessings from heaven. Three classes 
attend these meetings, and I wish the first class might 
be brought over to the third. The first class, some of 
whom are Christians, come out of mere curiosity : they 
come to criticise, but it does not take brains nor heart 
to find fault. To such I say, ' Can you do better ? If 
so, take hold and show us how.' 

"The second class come just to enjoy themselves; and 
when they leave they say to each other, ' Didn't we 
have a good meeting ? ' They always come early, and 
take all the good seats. They are always ready to 
receive, but have nothing to give. We do not want 



146 LI^E OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

sucli people here: we want ten thousand workers. 
The third class consist of such. They come to watch 
and pray for souls ; and, when they find one by their 
side weeping for sins, they take him to the inquiry- 
room, and show him the way to life. A lady in Lon- 
don," said he in conclusion, " succeeded in converting 
one hundred and fifty persons, and in speaking of it 
she said, ' We did not work : we just laid ourselves out 
for Christ.' That's the way to do it : don't count your 
strokes, just lay yourselves out. Go ye into the vine- 
yard : don't wait for the harvest, for — hark!" and 
after the breathless assembly had waited a moment, 
hearing only the rain-drops pattering on the roof, he 

added, — 

" ' Hark I the voice of Jesus crying, 

Who will go and work to-day ? " 

when Mr. Sankey sung the song with marvellous 
pathos and effect. No such singing had ever before 
been heard in the churches of the " Quaker City." 

The services in the afternoon commenced at four 
o'clock ; but an hour before, the entire building was 
crowded, and thousands failed to gain admittance. Mr. 
Moody spoke on moral courage and enthusiasm, with 
his usual force ; and his appeals were sent home to 
the heart by the spirited hymns, " Hear ye the Battle- 
Cry," and " Hold the Fort," as sung by Mr. Sankey, 
with the well-trained choir upon the chorus. 

Thus was the revival work inaugurated. The plans 
adopted and the sermons preached were almost the 



THANKSGIVING DAY. 147 

same as those in Brooklyn, and week after week the 
surging crowd continued to fill the Tabernacle. The 
speaker had a blunt, ungraceful manner, an unstudied 
diction, and a husky, high-keyed voice. What, then, 
drew out the people in such numbers ? what enchained 
as by an enchantment their attention ? One attributed 
the interest to the reputation of the revivalists ; but 
how had they gained that reputation ? Another said 
it was their way of putting things ; but many min- 
isters in the city had more eloquent ways of putting 
things. Still another said it was by hammering at 
the heart with a sublime persistence ; but some others 
did this without making an impression. The revival- 
ists themselves said, "It is because the Spirit of God 
is moving the hearts of men;" and this undoubtedly 
was the true solution of the problem. 

On Thanksgiving Day the auditorium was decorated 
with the national banners, and as many as eleven 
thousand people listened with rapt attention to the 
fervid utterances of the two great modern apostles of 
the gospel. " If you want to praise God," said Mr. 
Moody, " go and do some work ; lift up somebody, 
relieve the sick, and comfort the heart-broken. By so 
doing it will be the best praise that we can give to 
God. . . . Oh that we may have live churches ! Oh 
that we may get rid of these dead churches, with their 
cold forms and ceremonies, and have them filled with 
live, happy people ! " Then the choir and congregation 
broke forth into the song, — 



148 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

" We praise thee, O God! for the Son of thy love, — 
For Jesus who died and is now gone above," — 

after which Mr. Sankey, having told a touching story of 
a prodigal son, sung with sweet expression, — 

i ' There were ninety and nine that safely lay 
In the shelter of the fold, 
But one was out on the hills away, 
Far off from the gates of gold. ' ' 

Mr. Moody's Bible-readings proved to be a great 
attraction to the Philadelphians, as many as five 
thousand being sometimes present to hear his felicitous 
interpretations of Holy Writ. 

At the evening meeting, Dec. 19, President Grant, 
some members of his Cabinet, and some Congressmen, 
were present, and at the close expressed themselves 
as well pleased with the services, and especially with 
the singing of Mr. Sankey. " Mr. Moody," said Ex- 
Speaker Blaine, " is a wonderful man." At the in- 
quiry-meeting that evening, Mr. Moody said, " It was 
the best service we have ever had in America or in 
Europe : it was perfectly marvellous ; it went beyond 
all my faith." 

" These are golden days for Philadelphia," said Mr. 
Wannamaker at one of the meetings : " to-night let this 
vast congregation join in the solemn prayer for the 
great and glorious work that is now progressing amongst 
us." And then the hymn, — 

" Rejoice and be glad ! the Redeemer has come," — 



MIDNIGHT WATCH-MEETING. 149 

was sung so touchingly that a gentleman on the plat- 
form rose and exclaimed, " I have frequently heard it 
said that Jesus loves a musical heart more than a 
musical voice. If that be so, I tell you that here we 
have learned how both can be united." 

At the close of the year 1875 a midnight watch was 
held, when after various solemn services Mr. Moody 
invited the whole congregation to unite in silent 
prayer. While all heads were bowed in supplication, 
Mr. Sank ey sang in a low and broken voice, " Almost 
persuaded," then Dr. Newton recited the Lord's Prayer; 
" Praise God from whom all blessings flow," was 
sung ; and the silence of profound meditation reigned 
until the clock struck the knell of the old year. Dr. 
Plumer of South Carolina then pronounced the bene- 
diction; and, after Mr. Moody had bid them all a 
" happy New Year," the meeting was dissolved. On 
the 6th of January, 1876, he tenderly addressed a great 
assembly on the subject of the sabbath school, urging 
teachers to labor personally for the salvation of their 
pupils. " 4 Now let us go to work,' said I one day to 
two of my teachers, c and see if we cannot win those 
three young ladies in the school to Christ. You take 
Margaret, you take Sarah, and I will take Henrietta ; 
and we will give them books, write to them, visit them, 
and pray for them, work personally with them.' Within 
a month two of them were led to Christ ; and since I 
have been in Philadelphia I have learned that Margaret 
has been converted." 



150 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

On Fridays he spoke to the inebriates ; and about a 
hundred and fifty of them were reformed during his 
stay in the city. 

On the 14th of January, George H. Stuart wrote to 
" The Tribune," " The last service of the eighth week 
of Moody and Sankey's labors in this city was attended 
this evening by over thirteen thousand persons, filling 
the great depot building to its utmost capacity. Many 
thousands were turned away, unable to obtain even 
standing-room. The interest in these services has 
from the first steadily increased, and the labors of the 
evangelists have been and continue to be the all- 
absorbing topic of conversation." 

The regular services of the revival were brought to 
a close on the 16th of January, when the throng of 
worshippers was still augmenting, and the religious 
interest deepening. It was estimated that since the 
work began on the 14th of November, the total attend- 
ance had been as great as seven hundred thousand, the 
number of converts four thousand, and the expenses 
of the revival were about thirty thousand dollars. No 
orator probably ever addressed in an equal space of time 
such a large number of people. The immediate effects 
were grand ; but who can estimate the magnitude of the 
work as bearing on the future destiny of the mighty 
throngs that heard the word proclaimed with such con- 
vincing power ? 

Returning to Philadelphia on the 4th of February, 
the evangelists met the clergymen and the converts in 



THE ORANGE-TREE. 151 

the depot building, which was densely crowded; and 
after Mr. Sankey had sung with unusual tenderness 
Mrs. Emily S. Oakey's fine hymn, — 

" Sowing the seed by the daylight fair, 
Sowing the seed by the noonday glare," — 

Mr. Moody prayed that God would bless the work 
accomplished, and that "on the golden shore of the 
Beyond, all who had found Christ might clasp hands 
without missing the face of one lost brother." He then 
addressed some earnest and affectionate words to the 
converts, taking for his theme, " God is able to hold 
you." In the course of his remarks, he used this beau- 
tiful illustration : " Every Christian's life should be like 
the orange-tree. In Florida I saw these trees growing 
in dry sand ; and, when I asked how they lived, I was 
told that every tree had a tap-root which went right 
down until it struck water. We, too, must find a fount 
so pure and revivifying that no surroundings can injure 
our spiritual growth." " Let word and work," he also 
counselled, " be our watchword. If you neglect either 
the one or the other, you cannot be successful. But 
he who holds the word in one hand, and works with the 
other, must advance nearer and nearer to the throne." 
In closing he said with deep emotion, "I do not like 
the word 'farewell.' I'll bid you good-night, and by 
the grace of God I want to meet you in the morning." 
Many eyes were moistened as " The Sweet By-and- 
By " was sung ; and many a silent prayer ascended to 



152 



LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 



the mercy-seat as the audience left the building in 
which so many brave words had been spoken, and so 
many hearts won from ways of error to the love of 

Jesus. 




YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION BUILDING, PHILADELPHIA. 

In one of the meetings Mr. Moody took up a collec- 
tion for the building of the Young Men's Christian 
Association, which amounted to about a hundred 
thousand dollars. He himself put in a diamond ring, 



VISIT TO PBINCETON. 153 

■which came to him enclosed in this letter : " Dear Mr. 
Moody, — Through the instrumentality of the blessed 
meetings now closing, my darling son, a prodigal, and 
his wife, are now resting in a Saviour's love. The 
accompanying ring, the gift of one dearly loved, and so 
long worn it seems a part of myself, I now offer to my 
dear Lord and Master as a thank-off ering for his un- 
speakable blessing. Do with it as the Holy Spirit 
directs." The ring was sold for a thousand dollars, 
and assisted in paying for the noble structure of which 
a picture is here given. 

At the sale of the furniture of the depot building, 
Mr. Stuart gave fifty-five dollars for the chair of Mr. 
Moody, and Mr. Field the same for that of Mr. Sankey. 

The same day, Feb. 5, Mr. Moody addressed the 
students of the college at Princeton, taking for his 
subject, " What Christ is to us." In the course of his 
remarks he said, " Some think we are getting wiser 
than the Bible ; but I always say to those people, 
'Bring me a better book than the Bible, and I will 
throw it away.' You might as well say, 4 What splendid 
gas we have now ! Let us build all our houses and 
churches without windows : we don't want the sun any 
more.' " The students were deeply impressed by the 
discourse. 

At the conclusion of his address on " There is no 
Difference," the next day, fifteen of them rose for 
prayers ; and before the month closed about one 
hundred were converted. 



CHAPTER VII. 

EVANGELICAL WORK IN NEW YORK CITY, AUGUSTA, GA., AND 
CHICAGO. 

The Hippodrome. — Use of Means. — The Meetings opened. — Setting 
Christians at "Work. — Mr. Moody's Sermons. — Extract from a Let- 
ter. — The Gospel. — Tramps. — A Scotchman's Idea of Christ. — 
Distinguished Men present. — Secular Press. — Going to the Stake. 

— Dom Pedro. — Young Converts. — Convention. — Witty Replies. 

— Music. — Closing Services. — Results. — An Editor's Opinion of 
Mr. Moody. — Augusta, Ga. — Mr. Moody's New Church Edifice. 

— Dedication. — He visits Northfield. — Springfield. — Work in Chi- 
cago commences. — The Tabernacle. — Harmony among the Clergy. 

— Open Service. — Ministers affected. — Death of Samuel H. Moody. 

— Sermon on the Same. — Inquirers. — Interest deepening.— Faith- 
ful Sunday-School Teacher. — Germans interested. 

" Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way 
Bhall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." —St. James. 

"In the cross of Christ I glory, 

Towering o'er the wrecks of time : 
AH the light of sacred story 
Gathers round its head sublime." 

John Bowbing. 

The two evangelists began their glorious work on 
Monday evening, Feb. 7, 1876, in the city of New 
York. The Hippodrome, a huge structure on Madison 
Avenue, had been engaged for them, and divided into 
compartments, one seating six thousand, and the other 

154 



THE HIPPODROME. 155 

about four thousand people. The space between them 
had been separated into rooms for inquiry and other 
purposes. As many as eight hundred singers and six 
hundred Christian workers had been trained for the 
revival. Union meetings had been held, in which 
earnest Christians of various denominations assembled 
to pray for the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon 
the people. The ministers were in living sympathy 
with the movement. Never, perhaps, before had prepa- 
rations on so grand a scale been made in any city for 
the advent of an evangelist. Nor were the friends of 
religion disappointed in their expectations. 

" Too much machinery about all this," said some 
who doubted. But for the diversion of the public in 
that same building, Mr. Barnum had used a great deal 
more. Might not the followers of Christ employ means 
to lead the erring to him ? did he not himself use 
means to win them ? and should not the means be in 
proportion to the work to be accomplished ? 

The audience that awaited Mr. Moody and his com- 
peer was the largest ever convened in the metropolis, 
while thousands pressed in vain to gain admittance. 
As the speaker came upon the platform, and looked 
over the vast throng, he said, " Let us all bow our 
heads in silent prayer." The stirring songs " Hold the 
Fort," and " What shall the Harvest be ? " soon fol- 
lowed ; and then, choosing for his theme the power of 
weak things to confound the mighty, he spoke as one 
whose lips were touched with fire from heaven; and 



THE MEETINGS OPENED. 157 

moved, as no other living man could do, the hearts and 
consciences of the vast assembly. Instead of lessening, 
his incessant toil in Philadelphia seemed' to have re- 
doubled both his physical and mental energy. In his 
style of delivery he had much improved, and never had 
he in any city before commenced his work with such a 
powerful sermon. God was evidently with him. All 
things were ready, and a great awakening was antici- 
pated. Mr. Moody closed his sermon by saying, " The 
mighty spirit of Elijah rests upon us to-night. Let 
us go to our homes, and cry to the God of Elijah, 
8 Here I am, God, use me,' that we may be ready for all 
his services." Here was the key-note of the awaken- 
ing. 

On Wednesday evening, Feb. 9, the Hippodrome 
was, in spite of the rain, densely filled ; and Mr. 
Moody, after the singing of " Only an armor-bearer " 
and other hymns, spoke on moral courage with such 
point and impetuosity as made a profound impression 
on the audience, so that many — 

" Who came to scoff, remained to pray." 

On Thursday, Feb. 4, five distinct meetings were 
held at the Hippodrome, at which there was an aggre- 
gate attendance of about twenty thousand people. 
Many were moved to tears, and about two hundred 
inquirers remained to converse with the Christian 
workers. Mr. Moody's theme for the evening was, 
" To every man his work." His sermon abounded in 



158 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

felicitous illustrations, and riveted the attention of the 
audience to its close. 

In his preaching during all the work, his chief aim 
was, to convince Christians that each and every one has 
a personal work to do in bringing souls to Jesus. 
" There are many," said he, " that are willing to do 
great things for the Lord ; but few are willing to do 
little things. The mighty sermon of our Lord on 
regeneration was preached to one man. Many are will- 
ing to preach to thousands, but are not willing to take 
their seat beside one soul, and lead that soul to Christ." 

It is the habit of Mr. Moody to write out a sermon 
carefully, and then, surcharging his mind with its 
spirit, to deliver it extempore, varying the illustrations 
so as to suit the character of his hearers. Most of his 
discourses he has repeated, it may be, forty or fifty 
times : yet such is the force and fervor he throws into 
them, such is the magnetic power of his person, that 
they are heard over and over again with unabated 
interest. The lively anecdotes and touching stories he 
has told so often have been a thousand times published 
and circulated through and through Great Britain and 
America. So many of them refer to his own life and 
experience that his biography might to a great extent 
be woven out of them ; yet we love in him this frank, 
Pauline egotism, revealing as it does the honesty of his 
soul, as well as the noble ardor which inspires him to 
go forward in his glorious work. 

"Mr. Moody must have great executive ability," 



THE GOSPEL. 159 

wrote to me an attendant on the meetings at the Hip- 
podrome, " for he controls his audiences seemingly 
without any effort ; and you know in many cases there 
are rough men and boys, and women too, but there is 
never any disorder, and hardly ever any inattention. 
He is entirely devoted to his work : he thinks rapidly, 
and expresses himself as rapidly as he thinks. In the 
inquiry-meetings he is never at a loss for a reply, and 
that a good one. 4 1 don't think I have a soul,' said a 
lady there to him one day, ' any more than a dog.' 
— i Then why, madam, did you come to me? I can't 
reason with a dog,' he instantly replied." 

The second week of the revival opened with the 
interest still increasing. On Sunday afternoon, Feb. 
13, Mr. Moody preached on " the Gospel " to an audi- 
ence of about six thousand women. Such a congrega- 
tion had perhaps never before been seen in America. 
The novelty of the spectacle was almost as great when 
in the evening he preached the same discourse exclu- 
sively to men. " I have spoken," he said, " a great many 
times in this city ; but I believe I never preached the 
gospel here but once. That was twelve or fifteen years 
ago, down in the Tombs. ... I believe I was converted 
years before I knew what the gospel meant. Now, the 
word 4 gospel ' means ' good spell,' or in other words 
4 God's spell.' " Referring to the interest of Christ in 
the wandering, he said, " I noticed on my way down 
this morning not less than four or five tramps. They 
looked weary and tired. I suppose they had slept on 



160 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

the sidewalk last night. I thought I would like to have 
time just to stop and tell them about the Son of God, 
and how Christ loved them." 

On Friday, Feb. 18, the noon prayer-meeting was 
attended by more than six thousand persons, the sub- 
ject discussed being — as afterwards on this day — in- 
temperance ; and in the evening Mr. Moody preached 
his great sermon on " What is Christ to us?" In the 
course of his remarks he said, " I was once speaking on 
this theme in Europe, and said to a Scotch friend, as we 
were going home, I was much disappointed that I did 
not get through with the subject. He looked at me 
with astonishment, and said, ' What, my friend ! did ye 
expect to tell what Christ is in half an hour? Ye need 
never expect to tell it in all eternity : ye would never 
get through with it.'" 

In the audience were seen sometimes eminent mer- 
chants, lawyers, judges, and statesmen of the city. 
Gov. S. J. Tilden, Cyrus W. Field, and Dr. John Lord 
have been attentive listeners. Mr. Moody said he had 
never before received such cordial aid and sympathy 
from the ministers. Among those actively engaged 
with him were Messrs. Taylor, Tyng, Hall, Chambers, 
Anderson, Armitage, Ormiston, and Rogers. The 
latter said that during a ministry of more than thirty 
years he had never witnessed scenes of such solemnity 
and power. 

On Sunday, Feb. 20, about four thousand Christians 
were present at the morning service ; about ten thousand 



SECULAR PRESS. 161 

women listened to Mr. Moody's sermon on the text, 
" Where art thou ? " in the afternoon, and about the 
same number of men in the evening. The Hippodrome 
continued to be crowded through the week ; and in 
the streets, the offices and homes throughout the city, 
such words as "Have you heard Moody?" "Does he 
not send solid shot into his congregation ? " " Did not 
Sankey sing most touchingly ? " " Were you ever at 
such grand, good meetings ? " continually met the ear. 
The secular papers spread abroad the truths spoken 
by the evangelists ; and thousands of ministers from a 
distance, catching the inspiration of the great meetings 
at the Hippodrome, carried something of the flame back 
to their churches. Never since the apostolic times had 
the voices of two unlettered men so moved the world. 

In his address on " Grace," Feb. 25, the speaker gave 
this pointed illustration: "' Moody,' said a man to me 
some time ago, ' have you got grace to go to the stake 
as a martyr ? ' — i No ! what do I want to go to the stake 
for ? ' Another said to me, c Moody, if God should take 
your son, have you grace to bear it ? ' — ' What,' said I, 
4 do I want grace for ? If God should call me to part 
with my boy, he would give me strength to bear it.' 
4 As thy days, so shall thy strength be.' ' 

Thus these two remarkable men proceeded day after 
day and evening after evening, Mr. Sankey with his 
melodeon, and Mr. Moody with his Bible, singing and 
preaching to undiminished audiences in the centre of 
New York City, quickening the hearts of the clergy, and 



162 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

turning many people to righteousness. Mr. Moody's 
sermons — among which those on " The Divine Compas- 
sion," " The Blood," " Heaven and its Treasures," 
" Men's Excuses," " God's Love," " How to study the 
Bible," " Work of the Holy Ghost," and " Trust," awak- 
ened great attention — were always direct, pointed, 
Biblical, catholic, and hopeful. They were all enriched 
with apt scriptural citations, touching anecdotes, perti- 
nent illustrations, and epigrammatic points, that went 
directly to the heart. 

In one of his addresses on the Good Samaritan he said, 
" A great many people ask us, 4 What are you going to 
do with these young converts when you get them? 
where will you put them, into what church, — Method- 
ist, Baptist, Episcopal?' Well, we don't know; we 
have not thought of that : we are trying to get them 
out of the ditch first." 

The emperor Dom Pedro was present when Mr. 
Moody preached his thrilling sermon on " What shall I 
do with Jesus which is called Christ?" and paid the 
strictest attention, bowing his head in assent to the 
remark, " Even a great emperor cannot save his soul, 
with all his wealth and power, unless he bows himself 
at Christ's feet, and accepts him." 

On the 29th and 30th of March a revival convention 
was held in the Hippodrome, at which there were 3,350 
pastoral and lay delegates. 

In reply to the many questions proposed to him, Mr. 
Moody evinced good common sense with not a little 



WITTY REPLIES. 163 

native wit. In respect to prayer-meetings he said, 
" They ought to be short. I find a great, many are 
killed because they are too long. The minister speaks 
five minutes ; and a minister's five minutes is always 
ten, and his ten minutes is always twenty. The result 
is, you preach everybody into the spirit and then out 
of it before the meeting is over." 

To the question, " Why was the Lord not able to do 
any thing at Nazareth?" his quick reply was, "On 
account of their unbelief; but that was the world, not 
the church." 

On being asked if he would encourage women preach- 
ing in the pulpit, he replied, " That is a complicated 
point, and we will leave it. I don't care about my wife 
going around and preaching." 

To the question, " Would you stop a man's prayer 
by a bell?" he answered, "If a man's prayer don't 
seem to go higher than his head, I should not hesitate 
to ring him down." 

To one asking him, " What is the best book for in- 
quirers ? " he said, " Well, the book written by John is 
about the best I have ever seen." 

" Suppose none of the congregation understand 
music ? " asked another : " how are you going to have 
it ? " — " Well," said he, " I don't understand music, but 
I can sing, as well as Mr. Sankey. I can sing from my 
heart. The fact is, people have gone to sleep. Larks 
never sing in their nests : it is when they get out. A 
little boy who had been converted was constantly sing- 



164 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

ing ; while his papa was reading the paper one day, he 
came up to him, and said, ' Papa, you are a Christian, 
but you never sing.' Says the father, 'I have got es- 
tablished.' Not long after, they went out to drive, but 
the horse would not go. The father got vexed, and 
said ' I wonder what ails him.' — ' I think,' said the 
boy, ' he has got established.' " 

To the question, " How can you make sinners feel 
their sinfulness ? " he answered, " That is God's work : 
you can't do it." 

During the meeting of the convention, Mr. Sankey 

sung with great tenderness Miss Fanny J. Crosby's 

sweet hymn, — 

' ' Rescue the perishing, 

Care for the dying, " — 

Saying as he came to the third stanza, that it contained 
one of the most blessed truths referred to by the speak- 
ers : — 

' ' Down in the human heart, 

Crushed by the tempter, 
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore : 

Touched by a loving heart, 

Wakened by kindness, 
Chords that were broken will vibrate once more." 

The services of this great revival in New York, 
during which so many hearts had been rescued from 
perishing, so many believers brought nearer to God, 
were closed on Wednesday evening, April 19, 1876, 
when Mr. Moody during his affectionate address to the 



CLOSING SERVICES. 165 

Christian workers made this fine comparison : " You 
say you are in the world. Well, you may be in the 
world but not of it, just as a ship is in the water but 
not of it. The moment the water begins to get into 
the ship, it sinks. You are in the world, but don't let 
the world be in you." In his address to the converts, 
of whom about thirty-five hundred were present, he 
urged every one to serve Christ, saying, " It is not too 
much to expect that each one of you should bring 
twelve more to him. One young man came to me, and 
said he was converted on the 3d of February ; he had a 
list of fifty -nine persons, with the residence of each, 
whom he had since that time been instrumental in 
leading to Christ. Now, if he has led fifty-nine to the 
Saviour, each of you ought to be able to reach some. 
Let each of you go to work, for that is the way to grow 
in strength." As he bade the audience good-night he 
said, " We have received nothing but kindness since 
we came here, and the Lord has abundantly blessed our 
work. May God bless all the policemen, the reporters, 
the choir, the ushers, and all who have aided the Lord's 
cause since we came here ten weeks ago ! May he 
bless all the ministers who have worked so nobly with 
us for Christ, and may the good work go on when we 
are far away ! " Many were bathed in tears, and the 
benediction was pronounced by Dr. J. Cotton Smith. 

It was estimated that as many as a million and a 
half of people had attended the various meetings at 
the Hippodrome, of whom as many as ten thousand dif- 



166 LIFE OF DWTGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

ferent persons had been present at the meetings for 
inquiry. Large accessions were subsequently made to 
many of the churches; but what the grand harvest 
will be, what tongue can tell ? 

In taking leave of him, one of the leading New York 
journals said, " Make him the best-read preacher in 
the world, and he would instantly lose half his power. 
Put him through a systematic training in systematic 
theology, arid you fasten big logs of fuel to the driving- 
wheels of his engine. . . . We shall not soon forget 
his incomparable frankness, his broad undenomination- 
alism, his sledge-hammer gestures, his profuse diction 
which stops neither for colons nor commas, his true- 
ness which never becomes conventional, his naturalness 
which never whines, his abhorrence of Phariseeism 
and of ecclesiastical Machiavelism, his mastery of his 
subject, his glorious self-confidence, his blameless life, 
and his unswerving fealty to his conscience and to his 
work." 

At the conclusion of their ministry at New York, 
Mr. Sankey repaired to his home in New Castle, Penn. ; 
while Mr. Moody, without taking rest, proceeded to 
Augusta, Ga., where he held, April 25, in the grove of 
the Presbyterian Church, a meeting at which about 
six thousand persons, white and colored, were pres- 
ent. The Southerners were delighted with his afflu- 
ence of illustration, and profoundly moved by his 
pathetic appeals. While referring to the healing of 
the woman by touching the Lord's garment, in his 



NEW CHUECH EDIFICE. 167 

sermon of the next day, he said, "Jesus had more 
medicine in the hem of his garment than all the 
apothecaries in the land." 

On Sunday, April 30, as many as fifty, moved by his 
magnetic power, rose up for prayers. 

He left Augusta on the 9th of May, highly gratified 
with the kindness he had received, but more especially 
with having some good evidence that through his 
preaching many hearts were led to rejoice in the 
Eedeemer. 

Returning by the way of St. Louis, where he held 
several meetings of great interest, he became, on reach- 
ing Chicago, the guest of his benefactor John V. 
Farwell. 

For the better accommodation of his church and 
society, Mr. Moody, prior to his visit to England in 
1873, planned and commenced an edifice on the corner 
of Chicago Avenue and La Salle Street ; but, owing to 
the depression in business, it was not completed till the 
summer of 1876. It is built of brick and stone in the 
Gothic style, and will seat about two thousand people. 
The whole cost of the structure, and the land on which 
it stands, was about eighty-nine thousand dollars, 
towards which sum about five hundred thousand 
sabbath-school children contributed their mite. The 
building was opened for service in June ; but Mr. 
Moody then said that it should not be dedicated until 
it was entirely paid for. It was a bad thing to be in 
debt. He could not bear to look one in the face if he 



168 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

owed him any thing. A collection was then taken 
which amounted to thirteen thousand dollars, and the 
whole sum required to pay for the church was soon 
afterwards obtained. The edifice was dedicated on 
the 16th of July, the sermon on the occasion being 
preached by Dr. James H. Brooks of St. Louis. In 
the completion and dedication of his church, Mr. 
Moody had a long-cherished desire gratified ; and he 
then soon repaired to his quiet home in the valley of 
the Connecticut River, for a little study and repose. 
But rest he could not find ; for the desire to hear him 
was so intense, and solicitations for his services in the 
neighboring towns came in to him so urgently, as to 
admit of no refusal. On Tuesday, Aug. 15, he 
preached on revivals, to as many as a thousand people 
in the Congregational church in Greenfield ; the next 
day he spoke in Northfield, and on Sunday following, 
again to a crowded house in Greenfield. On the 22d 
he delivered his great sermon on " To Every One his 
Work," before an audience of above three thousand 
people in the City Hall at Springfield. He was to have 
spoken at half-past seven, P.M., in the First Congre- 
gational Church. At four, p.m., it was packed with 
people ; and when it was announced three hours later, 
that the services would be held in the hall, well- 
dressed women leaped from the windows of the church 
in order to secure seats in season. He also, with Mr. 
P. P. Bliss, held services on the 10th of September in 
Brattleboro', Vt. 



WORK IN CHICAGO COMMENCES. 169 

In the mean time earnest Christian workers of va- 
rious denominations were engaged in the construction 
of a tabernacle with seats for eight thousand persons, 
and standing-room for about two thousand more, in the 
business centre of Chicago, for the especial use of the 
evangelists. The structure, which was substantially 
built/ costing about twenty thousand dollars, was of 
two stories, with galleries on three sides, and a plat- 
form in the rear of the speaker's stand, intended for 
the accommodation of about three hundred singers. 
During the construction of this commodious edifice, 
meetings were frequently held in the different churches 
of the city for the purpose of invoking the presence and 
Spirit of God upon the place, and of more fully pre- 
paring the hearts of Christians for carrying on the 
evangelical movement. A delightful spirit of harmony 
prevailed amongst the ministers, who spoke and labored 
as with one accord for the advancement of the work. 

Chicago was the scene of Mr. Moody's early evangeli- 
cal success ; in that city his character as an aggressive 
herald of the cross had been established. The clergy 
had in him full confidence ; the churches and the people 
needed the burning words of an accredited evangel to 
awaken them from slumber to the realities of religion 
and of the world to come. But a prophet has not 
honor at home. Men love novelty. The manner, 
voice, ideas, and methods of Mr. Moody were well 
known in the great city of the West. Here he had 
been prominently identified with the work of the 



170 



LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 



Young Men's Christian Association, into which he had 
infused a new energy ; the erection of the beautif ul hall 
of the Association being chiefly due to his labors. But 
would the people corne to hear him ? Would the ex- 
pectations of his friends who had made such perfect 
preparations for the accommodation of the multitude 

be met ? The anxiety on the 
part of Christians was intense, 
yet prayer for the outpouring 
of the Spirit of God continu- 
ally ascended to the throne of 
mercy. 

Mr. Moody began his evan- 
gelical labors at the new tab- 
ernacle in Chicago at eight 
o'clock on Sunday morning, 
Oct. 1, 1876 ; and the sea of 
upturned faces which then 
greeted him at once allayed 
I the fears of Christians in 
respect to the result. On 
B^ the platform, supporting Mr. 
Moody, were many clergymen of different denomina- 
tions, sitting side by side. The choir of three hun- 
dred singers, led by Mr. Stebbins, opened the services 
by singing from leaflets, the Rev. W. P. Mackey's 
spirited hymn, — 

" We praise thee, O God! for the Son of thy love, 
For Jesus who died, and is now gone above," — 




OPENING SERVICE. 171 

after which Mr. Moody said, " If we are going to have a 
blessing in the North-west, it must be from the throne 
of God." 

From the " Gospel Hymns," Mr. Sankey sang several 
songs, as, — 

" Only an armor-bearer, proudly I stand, 
Waiting to follow at the King's command," — 

with a voice of winning sympathy; when the great 
evangelist rose, and in his impetuous and effective style, 
unlike that of any other living speaker, delivered his 
sermon on " Rolling away the Stone from the Door." 
The three great stones to be rolled away before the 
revival would succeed were unbelief, prejudice, and a 
sectarian spirit. " If I thought this morning," said he 
under the last topic, " that I had a drop of sectarian 
blood in my veins, I would open them and let it out 
before dinner. On the great day of Pentecost there 
was but one mind and one spirit." 

At four o'clock in the afternoon Mr. Moody preached 
his sermon on the " Reward of the Faithful," to an audi- 
ence of nine thousand people, every available spot in 
the Tabernacle being occupied. An immense overflow- 
meeting was also held in Farwell Hall. As Mr. Moody 
went on with his discourse he specified four classes — the 
ministers, the sabbath-school teachers, the young men, 
and the mothers — from whom he desired assistance in 
the revival. While speaking of the first class, he 
touchingly said, " There was one thing that pleased me 



DEATH OF SAMUEL H. MOODY. 173 

this morning, and that was the eight thousand people 
who came to this building, and the large number of 
ministers who seized me by the hand with the tears 
trickling down their cheeks, and who said to me, ' God 
bless you ! ' It gave me a light heart." 

Others had happy hearts that clay ; for some were 
turned to Jesus, and Christian workers felt assured a 
movement so auspiciously inaugurated would eventuate 
in success. The field was white for the harvest ; the 
reapers had put in the sickle ; and the aim of Mr. 
Moody's sermons, as in other places, for the first week 
or two, was to urge them to lay their hands with vigor 
to the work. 

On Friday, Oct. 6, the evangelist was startled by the 
intelligence that his youngest brother, Samuel Holton 
Moody, had died at his home in Northfield in a fit ; and, 
leaving his work so well begun, he came home immedi- 
ately to weep with the afflicted family over the remains 
of the loved one passed away. He was buried on 
Tuesday, Oct. 10 ; and fifty young men whom he had 
been instrumental in converting followed him to the 
grave. 

In a sermon preached on his return to Chicago, Mr. 
Moody said, " My call to mourning was the deepest 
I have ever known ; for next perhaps to my wife, my 
two children, and my aged mother, I loved none so 
dearly as this youngest brother." 

The first night on which rooms were opened for in- 
quirers, a large number, especially of the neglected and 



174 LIFE OF DWTGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

the poor, were present ; and when Mr. Moody, Nov. 6, 
met the young converts at Farwell Hall, he had the 
pleasure of addressing at least three hundred who had 
just set out to run the Christian race. Every day the 
tone of religious feeling was deepening in the city. Men 
and women of every class were seeking for salvation, 
and crowding to hear the living word of God as sung 
or spoken by the revivalists. The noon prayer-meet- 
ings at Farwell Hall were well attended, meetings for 
the intemperate were crowded, and the meetings at 
the Tabernacle, especially on Sunday evening, were 
thronged with people who under the impassioned elo- 
quence of Mr. Moody were swayed just as the sea by 
the deep ground-swell. 

In his service on Sunday morning, Nov. 2, Mr. 
Moody said, — 

" I will tell you how I got my first impulse in this 
personal work for souls. I hadn't got hold of the idea ; 
there was no one to teach me, and I was going on with 
the general work of my school in 1860, when a man 
who was one of my Sunday-school teachers came into 
my place of business one day, looking very ill. I asked 
him what was the matter, and he replied, c I have been 
bleeding at the lungs, and the doctors have given me 
up to die.' 

" ' But you are not afraid to die, are you ? ' 
" 4 No, I think not,' he answered ; 'but there is my 
class, — I must leave it, and there is not one of them 
converted.' 



FAITHFUL SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER. 175 

"It was a class of young girls that gave me more 
trouble than any other class in the whole school ; and 
he had hard work to get along with them. ' Well,' 
said I, ' can't you go and call on them before you go 
away ? ' 

" ' No,' he said : he was too weak to walk. 

" So I went and got a carriage, and took him round 
to see those careless scholars ; and he pleaded with 
them and prayed with them, one by one, to give their 
hearts to Christ ; he spent ten days at this work, and 
every one of that class was saved. The night before 
he left the city for his home at the East, where he was 
going to see his mother and to die, we got the teacher 
and the class together ; and such a meeting I never saw 
on earth. He prayed and I prayed; and then the 
scholars, of their own accord, without my asking them, 
— I didn't know as they could pray, — prayed for their 
teacher, and for themselves that they might all be kept 
in the way of life, and by and by all meet again in 
heaven. 

" I have thanked God a thousand times for those ten 
days of personal work." 

An immense audience listened to Mr. Moody at the 
Tabernacle in the afternoon as well as evening. As 
many as a thousand persons presented themselves as 
seekers of salvation during the day. In the interim 
between the usual services, Mr. Moody preached a 
brief sermon to the Germans in Farwell Hall. After 



176 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

Mr. Sankey had sung to them " Where are the Nine? " 
the Rev. Mr. Hager rose and said, " The secret of the 
great success of these evangelists may be found in 
three little words, — ' God, Virtue, Immortality.' " 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CONTINUATION OF THE REVIVAL IN CHICAGO. — METHODS AND 
RESULTS. -AN ACCOUNT OF THE WORK, BY THE REV. GEORGE 
P. PENTECOST. 

Meeting in Farwell Hall. —A Conversion. — Singular Notions in Respect 
to Mr. Moody. — A Convention. — Great Meetings. — Letter from a 
Prisoner. — A Pledge. — An Incident. — Spread of the Revival. — An 
Appeal to the Churches. — Christmas. — Death of Mr. Bliss and Wife. 

— Influence of the Work. — An Account by the Rev. Mr. Pentecost. — 
Great Audiences. — Reports from Churches. — Union of Christians. 

— Plan in the Work. — Sectarian Walls demolished. — Christians 
awakened. — Assurance. — Worldliness. — An Incident. — Dumb 
Christians. — Backsliders restored. — Effect on the Clergy. — Mr. 
Moody's Belief. — The Intemperate. — The Inquiry-Room. — Talk 
with a Sceptic. — Converts. 

" Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage." — David. 

" Strong in the Lord of hosts, 
And in his mighty power, 
Who in the strength of Jesus trusts 
Is more than conqueror. " — Charles Wesley. 

A MOST impressive meeting was held in Farwell Hall, 
Thursday, Nov. 16, for the outpouring of the Holy 
Spirit. It was continued on Friday, and drew from Mr. 
Moody the remark that it was the most profitable one 
he had ever held in Chicago. The songs of Mr. Sankey 
in these assemblies seemed to soften the hearts of the 
people, and prepare them for the reception of the seeds 

177 



178 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

of truth as sown by Mr. Moody. A gentleman from 
Elgin, who had been awakened by reading the reports 
of the revival in " The Chicago Tribune " came np to 
the meeting to-day, and on being asked by Dr. Thomp- 
son, — 

" Are you willing to confess Christ to your friends ? " 
replied, — 

" Yes, I am." 

" Will you kneel down here, and promise it to God ? " 

« Yes." 

The two then kneeling joined in prayer, and rose 
rejoicing in the Lord. This is but one instance among 
many like it constantly occurring. God was there in 
the midst of them, speaking in a still small voice to 
thousands. Christian women organized themselves into 
a society in aid of the revival, and visited those parts 
of the city out of the usual line of evangelical effort. 
They were not a little surprised to find some who had 
never heard of the revival meetings. 

" What," said these people, " is Mr. Moody a star 
actor ? " " Do they have dancing at the Tabernacle ? " 
But many were induced to go and see for themselves ; 
and some were led by the sweet influences of the house 
of prayer and praise up to a better life. 

At a grand meeting for the business men of the city, 
many rose and testified to the good hope they had 
obtained of pardon and adoption. 

On the 21st inst., a great Christian convention was 
held, when about twenty-five hundred clerical and lay 



A CONVENTION. 1T9 

delegates from the churches in the North-west were 
present. The meetings, conducted as in Philadelphia 
and New York, were characterized by fervor and so- 
lemnity. Mr. Moody illustrated what he considered the 
best method of carrying on evangelization by referring 
to the work as it was then proceeding in Chicago. At 
the close of the convention, Nov. 24, a large number of 
delegates entered into a covenant to pray for the special 
presence of the Spirit on their respective fields of labor. 

On Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 3.0, Mr. Moody gave a 
dinner to the reformed inebriates, in his own church on 
the north side of the river, where about two hundred 
and fifty purtook of the feast. 

An old Scotch woman once kept the noon prayer- 
meeting alive in Chicago, by performing all the exer- 
cises by herself and to herself. The next day Messrs. 
Moody, Farwell, and Jacobs came to her rescue ; and 
the noon prayer-meeting became an altar where the 
sacred fire burned most steadily in that city. But so 
wonderfully had religious interest deepened, that on 
Friday, Dec. 8, as many as seven thousand were present 
at that meeting, and the most reverent attention was 
given to the solemn services. In the afternoon Mr. 
Moody continued his Bible-Headings ; and in the even- 
ing, though a storm was raging, had as many as four 
thousand at the Tabernacle, to hear his sermon on the 
" Rich Man " spoken of in the twelfth chapter of Luke. 

In his effective sermon to young men, on " Your sin 
will find you out," at the Tabernacle, Dec. 13, Mr. 
Moody said, — 



180 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

" A man was cursing me on the street to-day for 
sending a poor fellow back to the penitentiary in Ohio, 
to meet the just punishment of his theft and his per- 
jury ; but, if he had not done that thing, he never could 
have stood before God in judgment. He must confess 
his sin ; and, though it meant three years in prison, 
still he must reap what he had sown. I have received 
a letter from that man, and he says that he is a happy 
man in spite of his prospect of a prison. God is with 
him, and is helping him bear his punishment, now that 
he has confessed and given his heart to Christ." 

At the Friday noon prayer-meeting on the 15th, the 
exercises were opened by the singing of Horatius 
Bonar's familiar hymn, — 

" What a friend we have in Jesus, 
All our sins and griefs to bear! 
What a privilege to carry 

Every thing to God in prayer! " 

After which Mr. Moody spoke to about seven thousand 
people on temperance, who, rising at the conclusion of 
his address, pledged themselves to abstain from the use 
of wine and other intoxicating beverages at their recep- 
tions on New Year's Day. During his address Mr. 
Moody related the following affecting incident as an 
illustration of God's readiness to answer prayer: Six 
weeks ago the speaker had read a letter from parents 
in Scotland, begging him to find their wandering boy 
Willie. For six weeks Mr. Sawyer, who has charge of 



SPREAD OP THE REVIVAL. 181 

the temperance work, sought in vain to find the boy ; 
but a week ago last Friday a young man came up to 
Mr. Sawyer accidentally, and addressed him. 

" What is your name ? " said Mr. Sawyer. 

"Willie ," he replied. 

" Is it, indeed ? I have been seeking for you the last 
six weeks." 

" How can that be ? " answered Willie. " You do 
not know me." 

" Yes," said Mr. Sawyer. " We have a letter telling 
of your mother's love and prayers for you." 

" That," said Mr. Moody, " broke his heart; and on 
Friday he stood up and told a story that melted the 
whole audience to tears. Years ago he married a beau- 
tiful girl, a minister's daughter. Already he had begun 
his downward course. His wife, who had been his 
guardian angel, soon died. They had a little girl. He 
left her, and became a homeless wanderer. When 
about to start for Australia, his little girl, kissing him 
good-by, said, ' You will not be gone long, papa.' He 
had not seen her since. He had gone the world around, 
— a very prodigal, full of sin and shame. But now 
prayer had been answered ; God had brought the lost 
one home." " Strong men," says The Interior, fairly 
sobbed, and the whole audience was in tears. Mr. 
Moody, with a voice broken with sobs, gave thanks for 
answered prayer, and cried to God to keep the boy, by 
his grace, unto eternal life." 

The revival influence had now spread out from 



182 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

Chicago into many cities in the North-west, and helpers 
went forth to assist the pastors. Messrs. Whittle and 
Bliss carried on the good work at Peoria, Mr. Harry 
Morehouse at Racine, and Messrs. Needham and Steb- 
bins at Fort Howard in Wisconsin. Mr. Moody was to 
have closed his labors in Chicago, Dec. 17 ; but such 
was the manifestation of divine power on the hearts of 
the people that it was deemed advisable for him to con- 
tinue one month longer. He wrote, Dec. 20, an appeal 
to the churches of the North-west, in which he said, 
" The work in Chicago ought to be regarded as only 
a small part of a great general awakening," and urged 
them to unite and seek for it in importunate prayer. 

In his sermon on Christmas Eve Mr. Moody made 
this point, which moved the vast audience as if the 
angel notes were pealing over it : " You are in debt to 
God, and you have nothing to pay; but Christ offers 
to pay it all if you will accept him. Set down all 
the sins you can think of, and then write underneath, 
1 The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from 
all sin.' There it is over there, painted on the gallery- 
front. I am glad they painted the ' ALL ' in big let- 
ters. That is the gospel : all your sins are washed 
away in the blood of Jesus Christ. Surely that is the 
very best news you could hear." 

The intelligence of the death of Mr. P. P. Bliss and 
his wife in the terrible railroad accident at Ashtabula 
Bridge, Dec. 29, filled the hearts of the evangelists with 
profound sorrow. On the sabbath following, the choir 



INFLUENCE OF THE WORK. 183 

at the Tabernacle sung several of the hymns of Mr. and 
Mrs. Bliss ; and when Mr. Moody came upon the platform 
he repeated with intense emotion the words of David, 
" Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man 
fallen in Israel ? " He then said, " Let us lift up our 
hearts to God in silent prayer," and proceeded afterwards 
to speak in eulogistic terms of the deceased. He subse- 
quently raised ten thousand dollars by subscription for 
the children of the departed singers, and also had money 
contributed for a stone to perpetuate their memory. 

It were utterly impossible to measure by numerical 
signs the mighty influence of this evangelical enter- 
prise in Chicago. As well might we attempt to make 
a record of the sunbeams dancing over the waves of 
ocean. The hearts quickened, the eyes opened, the 
homes gladdened, the kind words spoken, the prayers 
answered, the seeds of truth scattered, the trains of 
influence started, can be counted only in the land 
beyond the river. " It has been," says The Interior 
in speaking of the revival, " a great day in Chicago, in 
many respects the greatest our city has ever seen. It 
has been the day of her merciful salvation. Unlike 
her day and her nights of fire and sackcloth and ashes, 
it has been a day of joy and gladness ; it has been a 
day of Pentecost, a day of extraordinary privileges, a 
day of great and blessed opportunities. It has brought 
salvation to many hearts and many homes, to the splen- 
did mansions of the rich and to the humble dwellings 
of the poor. There are many who have been able tc 



184 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

say during these three months, as they have never said 
before, 4 The Lord hath done great things for us, 
whereof we are glad.' Our churches are revived, our 
ministers are revived, our sabbath schools are revived, 
our Christian homes are revived. In many new homes 
the voice of prayer and praise is now heard where it 
was never before. 

If ever any thing was put forward by system, it has 
been this revival movement ; one man performing one 
kind of labor, and another, another kind of labor; Mr. 
Moody and the ministers and the workers sounding out 
more and more warmly the great battle-cry. The 
instrumentalities have been short prayers, short ser- 
mons, pathetic gospel songs, Bible readings, hard work, 
common sense in an unusual degree, and a zeal and 
faith which grew stronger every hour up to the close." 

After the foregoing pages had been written, the 
following interesting account of the revival in Chicago 
was received from the Rev. Mr. Pentecost : — 

" The ordinary seating-capacity of the Tabernacle was 
eight thousand ; but on Sundays and special occasions 
two thousand extra chairs were introduced to accom- 
modate the great throngs of people. Those who are 
accustomed to see only the ordinary six hundred or one 
thousand persons who make up an average city congre- 
gation can have but little idea of the imposing effect 
produced by witnessing that vast audience of ten 



GREAT AUDIENCES. 



185 



thousand people, all with eager, interested faces, listen- 
ing to the rapid and oftentimes impassioned utterances 
of the evangelist. Yet this great, and in this country 
unprecedented audience, was sustained night after 




mmmmMsmm 



m 



Hi 



mm 



mm ,:.,-. : .- 1 ,- 



W i 



INTERIOR OF TABERNACLE, CHICAGO. 

night for nearly four months ; and three times each 
Lord's clay was the building filled, — at eight a.m., and 
at four and eight, p.m. But the meetings in the Taber- 
nacle were not the only ones held. Twice every day 



186 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

Farwell Hall, with a seating-capacity of twenty-five 
hundred, was tilled to overflowing. At noon the people 
gathered in it to spend an hour in prayer, and at three 
o'clock, p.m., again to listen to a Bible-reading by Mr. 
Moody. Beside these main meetings there were held 
every day a men's meeting and a women's meeting. 
In addition to the union meetings there was, as a 
result of the work of Messrs. Moody and Sankey, an 
unusual interest awakened in nearly every evangelical 
church in the city, so that almost daily the various 
pastors held inquiry-meetings in their churches. 

" It would be a great mistake to suppose that this 
awakening was confined to Chicago. Such was not 
the case : it was felt throughout the entire North-west. 
By twos Mr. Moody sent out evangelists, one to sing, 
and one to open the Word; and in all the leading 
towns and cities round about the truth was preached 
with power and in the Holy Ghost. Of this great work 
in the North-west, it may be said in the language of one 
of the sweet gospel hymns, — 

' The half was never told. ' 

The noonday prayer-meeting in Farwell Hall was 
thrilled again and again, as the reports came in from 
the churches, and by telegram from the outlying cities, 
where the evangelists were at work, of the great things 
God was doing in righteousness. 

" One of the most blessed results of the meetings in 
Chicago was the fusing together of the evangelical 



PLAN OF THE WORK. 187 

churches. Sectarianism seemed for once to have been 
laid low in the dust ; and it will be impossible in this 
generation, if ever again, to revive it. It was " the 
church which is in Chicago." One had to make dili- 
gent inquiry to find out to what denomination the min- 
isters who were in constant daily attendance belonged. 
This alone must result in good unspeakable. 

" The mere casual observer might not have noticed 
any distinct plan in the meetings ; but a little close 
observation reveals the fact that never did a general 
plan a campaign with more method and precision of 
detail than were those meetings and the work in con- 
nection with them pre-arranged. 

" As near as can be indicated, the results aimed at 
were as follows : — 

" First, To bring about union of effort on the part of 
the evangelical churches and ministry. This Mr. 
Moody makes a grand condition of success. At first 
the union may have been more apparent than real ; but 
as the work proceeded, the beauty, power, and blessed- 
ness of real union, in the effort to promote results dear 
alike to all evangelical believers, were realized. The 
ministers worked together as brothers; and, catching 
Mr. Moody's spirit, they seemed to realize that ' the 
church which Christ purchased with his blood,' was 
of more importance than any sect within the church ; 
and, as a consequence, sect and sectarianism took their 
proper and subordinate places. It is pretty certain 
that hereafter the walls between Methodists, Baptists, 



188 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

Congregationalists, Presbyterians, &c, will be regarded 
as walls that bind together, rather than as those that 
separate. 

" Second, The next general movement was upon the 
Christian people themselves, and the work was thus 
divided. First, Christians were taught the sin and 
misery of living in doubt respecting their relationship 
to God. The finished work of Christ was urged as an 
all-sufficient ground for coming into absolute assurance 
of salvation. Frames and feelings were made to give 
place to assurance based upon the promises of God, 
which cannot be broken. When the question was 
put, ' Are you a Christian ?' or ' Are you saved ? ' the 
doubtful ' I hope so,' or ' I think so,' were made to 
give place to the simple ' Yes,' or the assured ' I am ; ' 
and this was not the language of presumption, but 
simply that of faith. The ? verily, verilies,' of Christ 
to believers were made prominent; and, throwing them- 
selves upon the word of God, Christians were lifted 
into confidence. ' These things,' says John, ' have I 
written to you that believe, that ye may know that ye 
have eternal fife ' (1 John v. 13), ' I know whom I 
have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep 
that which I have committed unto him against that day ' 
(2 Tim. i. 12), and other scriptures of the same 
import, were brought forward. The result was joy, 
gladness, and liberty among the believers. That snare 
of Satan, that to have assurance is presumption, and to 
be in doubt is humility, was entirely broken ; and scores 



WOKLDLINESS. 189 

of Christians who had been raised, it is true, out of 
their grave of trespasses and sins (Eph. ii. 1), but who 
came forth bound hand and foot with their grave- 
clothes, and who had been living for years thus bound, 
were loosed and set free (John xi. 44). It was most 
refreshing to be in company with these Christians, 
walking in confidence, and yet in great humility. 
Their very presence, with happy voices and shining 
faces, were living sermons. Truly that was seen again 
which is recorded : c Then were the churches edified, 
and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort 
of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied' (Acts ix. 31). 
Second, a most direct and searching delivery of the 
word of God was made upon that vast multitude of 
worldly and formal Christians who have a name to 
live indeed, but are dead, — who, being in the church 
nominally, are yet really in and love the world. Truly 
they came to church once or more on the Lord's day, 
but beyond that they had apparently no part or lot in 
the matter. Such persons were plainly taught that, 4 if 
any man love the world, the love of the Father is not 
in him.' The result of this plain, straightforward 
preaching to the cold and inconsistent members of the 
church produced a very marked effect, as the following 
incident will serve to illustrate : — 

" My attention was attracted, in one of the women's 
meetings, to a remarkably fine-looking woman, past 
middle life, plainly but elegantly dressed, and evi- 
dently a person of influence and position. Yet above 



190 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

all mere dress and bearing there was something in her 
face that marked her as being thoroughly devoted to, 
and enthusiastic in, the work. On asking who she was, 

a friend replied to me, ' That is Mrs. . She is 

one of the leading women in Chicago, — wealthv and 
very influential. A few weeks ago she was found in 
the inquiry-rooms ; and, when Mr. Moody asked if she 
was a Christian, she replied, " Mr. Moody, I am a 

member of the church ; but I am going straight 

down to hell. And that is not the worst of it : I am 
leading my husband and children down there with 
me." She then went on and told a story of early con- 
version, of removal in early life to Chicago, of the 
prosperity of her husband in business, of accumulated 
wealth, of worldliness coming with the wealth, of a 
mere nominal Christian life, and how for years she had 
been plunging headlong into every fashionable pleasure 
and dissipation. Now the whole course of her life had 
been suddenly brought before her, and she was con- 
science-smitten, especially as she believed, that, but for 
her sin and folly, her husband and her children might 
have been saved. She had no hope for herself, but was 
in great distress about her family. She longed to see 
them saved. Mr. Moody turned her thought to God's 
word to backsliders, and pressed her to come to Him 
who said, " Return, thou backsliding Israel, for I am 
merciful." The result was, that then and there she 
gave her heart back to the Lord, accepting his plenteous 
mercy. Going to her home, she confessed to her hus 



DUMB CHRISTIANS. 191 

band and her children the sinfulness of her past life, 
and, seeking their forgiveness for unfaithfulness, she 
besought them to turn to the Lord, which they did ; and 
salvation came to all in her house. Then, turning to 
the Lord for service, she gave herself entirely to it, 
and became, by reason of her zeal, ability, and position, 
one of the most efficient workers in Chicago.' 

"It might also be mentioned that very many men 
who had been silent and inactive in the church, except 
in its business meetings, have been greatly quickened 
in this revival. Dr. Goodwin gave me this incident, in 
connection with his church : ' One of our best men, 
yet one who never took any part in our devotional 
meetings, went one day to a brother in the church, who 
like himself was a " silent member," and said to him, 

"Brother , you and I have been in the church a 

number of years, and yet I never heard your voice in 
prayer or testimony, nor you mine. Now, I think we 
have been dumb long enough. We have no trouble in 
talking to each other on 'Change about our business. 
What do you say to calling with me upon Brothers A 
and B and C and D, who like ourselves have been 
silent so many years, and having a meeting of the 
dumb Christians of our church?" The result was 
a gathering of the dumb for prayer. They had their 
meeting all alone, and had it again ; " and now," said 
Dr. Goodwin, " we can scarcely get a word in edge- 
wise." Several of the largest mercantile houses have 
suspended business during an afternoon, and, calling 



192 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

their employees together, have held prayer-meetings. 
This is notably true of the house of John V. Farwell 
& Co., and, I understand, of Field, Leiter, & Company. 

" Third, Throughout the entire North-west, and espe- 
cially in the large towns and cities, there are thousands 
of men and women, who, having removed from the East- 
ern and Middle States, have taken no letters from their 
home churches, or, if so, have failed to ally themselves 
with any of the churches in their new homes, and from 
various causes have slipped back into the world, and are 
known or unknown as backsliders. Vast numbers of 
these wandering and backslidden Christians have been 
reclaimed, and restored to the churches. 

" Thus has this great awakening gone through the 
churches. The best have been quickened ; doubt and 
despondency among morbid Christians have given place 
to confidence and joy; worldly Christians have been 
led into a new consecration ; and many open, sad back- 
sliders have been turned from their backslidings, and 
restored to Gocl. The work in the church would of 
itself be an unspeakable blessing. It ought to be added 
that the influence of these meetings upon the clergy 
has been most helpful. They have learned new lessons 
in the work of the pulpit. First they have learned that 
the most effective preaching is not the most elaborate, 
and that the best preaching is that which the most 
simply expounds the word of God ; and second, that 
written sermons are not, for effectiveness with the 
masses, to be compared, as a general rule, with direct, 
simple, warm-hearted, extemporaneous address. 



THE INTEMPERATE. 193 

"After a week or two spent in stirring up the 
church, and inciting Christians to consecration and 
service, the preaching was directed mainly to the un- 
converted. Mr. Moody's style of speaking is direct and 
simple. He adheres rigidly to the plain statements of 
the word of God, — teaching that all men are sinners, 
that there is no difference as to guilt, ' for all have 
sinned, and come short of the glory of God ; ' that 
f God commended his love toward us in that, while we 
were yet sinners, Christ died for us ; ' that Christ as 
the Son of God has through incarnation, death, and 
resurrection, made a complete and finished atonement 
for sin ; that God desires the salvation of all men ; 
that all, even the worst, may come to God through 
Christ now, and be saved ; that conversion occurs the 
instant the sinner believes. His sermons are character- 
ized by an intense, living earnestness. One feels that 
he loves the souls of men, that he has a perfect hunger 
for them, and that he is trying all the time not only to 
induce them to trust God through Jesus Christ, but 
also by his own simple and vehement faith to lift them 
himself into reconciliation with God. He believes 
thoroughly in the existence of a personal Devil, in 
future punishment, and that eternal death awaits all who 
reject Jesus Christ. This makes his preaching terribly 
earnest. He has, or seems to have, a superabounding 
love for the very poor and the deeply fallen, especially 
for the drunkard. His work among the intemperate 
is especially marked and wonderful. He teaches that 



194 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

drunkenness is not only a misfortune, but a sin ; that it 
can be dealt with effectually only by grace ; and that 
this can and does save drunkards from drunkenness as 
well as from the desire for drink, as it saves a liar from 
lying and from the desire to lie. The hope of perfect 
salvation from the appetite for drink has in it a charm 
for the drunkard, — who has so vainly striven to break 
loose from the bondage of the ' rum-devil ' as he calls 
it, — that leads him to seek Christ and salvation from 
all sin. Many thrilling incidents of salvation coming 
to life-long drunkards might be related, — how heart- 
broken families have been lifted up and restored ; how 
men who have gone home for many years under the 
influence of liquor have returned at last converted. 
Several hundred drunkards in Chicago have been thus 
saved. 

" The main work among the unconverted is done in 
the inquiry-rooms. The sermons are designed mainly 
to awaken an interest in the things of God, and to induce 
the unconverted to go into the inquiry-rooms where the 
work of the meetings is really done. The methods used 
are substantially as follows : — 

" After the sermon, which is always short, all persons 
desirous of being saved are invited to retire to one of 
the many inquiry-rooms in the building. Then the 
benediction is pronounced, a hymn is sung, and the 
congregation is dismissed. Usually from one to three 
hundred persons find their way into the inquiry-rooms. 
Here a brief address is made explaining more fully the 



CONVERTS. 195 

way of life, then follows a season of prayer; then at 
once a Christian finds out some unconverted one, and 
the two, going together apart from the crowd, sit down 
face to face, the worker having the Bible in his hand. 
The sin of the human heart is laid bare, and the saving 
grace of God held up. Repentance, faith, and the 
confession of Christ are urged. Alt over the room, 
earnestly conversing in suppressed voices, these little 
groups may be seen, apparently oblivious of the 
presence of other people. After a while two persons 
may be noticed slipping quietly from their chairs to 
their knees, which indicates that the surrender to God 
has been made, and there upon the bended knees the 
heart is given to Jesus Christ ; sometimes it means that 
the darkness of the mind is so great that no progress 
can be effected, and that an appeal is made to heaven 
for light and pardon. 

" The following incident may serve to illustrate the 
nature of the work : — 

" The inquiry-rooms had been crowded all the even- 
ing. It was now about eleven o'clock, and most of 
the ' workers ' and inquirers had gone home. A few, 
however, of both classes were lingering still. I had 
just left a man — a straightforward German — who had 
given himself up to God through Jesus Christ; and was 
about leaving the room, not seeing that there was any 
thing more for me to do, when I was approached by a 
young Christian who said, — 

" 4 Mr. Pentecost, before you go won't you come and 



196 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

speak to that young man ? [pointing to him] I do not 
seem to be able to meet his need.' 

" ' Certainly,' said I, and went over to where the 
young man was seated, and, drawing a chair up to him, 
said, — 

" ' Can I be of any help to you, my brother ? ' 

" ' I don't know, I am sure ; but, if you can give me 
any help, I will gratefully receive it.' 

" A few questions developed the fact that he was a 
cultivated young German, the son of a German ration- 
alistic theologian. He had been but a short time in this 
country. He was thoroughly conversant with the cur- 
rent Continental sceptical philosophers, he told me that 
he was fond of study, and especially philosophical study, 
and gave good evidence of familiarity with the various 
schools of thought current and past ; he said he had been 
led to think of Christianity as an ingenious mythology, 
having a very slender thread of historical truth in it, 
more or less the product of an early enthusiasm that 
had exalted Jesus into Deity. He confessed that he 
had never made the New Testament a study, but had 
imbibed his opinions mainly from Strauss. He went on 
to say that he had been attracted by curiosity into the 
Tabernacle, and had been amazed at the vast audi- 
ences held together week after week without excite- 
ment, simply by the rehearsal of Christian truths and 
Bible stories. He admitted that he was impressed with 
the matter of Mr. Moody's preaching, and was con- 
vinced from his manner that he was a sincere and 



A CONVERT. 197 

honest teacher. Finally he determined to take up the 
New Testament, and carefully read it. He had done so, 
and this night he had come into the inquiry-room to 
seek conversation with some Christian who would 
explain, if it were possible, some of the chief difficulties 
that he met with in the New Testament. He was 
altogether frank and candid, saying that he was free to 
admit that a careful reading of the New Testament 
revealed a purer and altogether better system of ethics 
than any of the philosophers with whom he was 
acquainted, and that the whole book had an air of 
sincerity and truth about it. But there were several 
insuperable difficulties in the way of his acceptance of 
it as truth. 

" I asked him to state his difficulties, which he did in 
about these words : — 

" ' There are three great claims set forth in the New 
Testament, upon the truth of which it seems to me the 
whole system must stand or fall.' 

" ' What are they ? ' 

" 'Why, first of all, it is claimed all through the New 
Testament that Jesus was the Son of God, i.e., God 
manifested in human nature — a supernatural being. 
This he claimed for himself, and even died in defence of 
the claim ; for, if I am not mistaken, that was the 
charge upon which he was put to death by the Jews, 
that in claiming to be the Son of God he made himself 
to be equal with God, which is blasphemy. Certainly 
he believed himself to be God ; and so did his apostles, 
especially John and Paul." 



198 LIEE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

" ' Well, what is your next difficulty ? ' 

" ' Why, the next difficulty is that our salvation 
depends not upon the uprightness of our own lives, but 
upon the fact of Christ's death, which is represented as 
a sacrificial act, — what Mr. Moody calls the atone- 
ment.' 

" ' Well, what is the other difficulty ? ' 

» ' Why, the resurrection of Christ from the dead. 
Every thing in Christianity depends upon that.' 

" 'Well,' said I, ' now, why are these things difficul- 
ties to you ? ' 

" ' Why, I cannot possibly believe that Jesus was God : 
he could not be. And it is not possible for any one who 
was really dead to rise again : such a thing never was in 
the world, and it cannot be ; and even if it were so I 
do not see how any one could be saved on account of 
another's death, and not on account of his own upright- 
ness.' 

" I confess that the task before me seemed very great 
indeed. But he seemed guileless in his desire to know 
the truth, and so with a prayer in my heart for help I 
said, — 

" ' Well, now, let us look at the first difficulty, — 
the incarnation. As I understand it, you are a theist: 
you believe in the existence of a personal, eternal, and 
omnipotent God, who is the author of the universe and 
our being ? ' 

" ' Oh, yes ! ' 

" Very well. Now, with that for a starting-point you 



A CONVERT. 199 

cannot philosophically hold that the incarnation is an 
impossibility, — that it could not be.' 

A very little talk ended in his admitting the possi- 
bility of the incarnation, but denying the probability 
of it ; and then he went on to say with the quickness 
of thought, and the clearest perception of the whole 
matter, — 

" But I think Jesus was himself deceived. I grant 
that he may have in moments of enthusiasm thought 
he was the Son of God ; and that he did at times make 
this claim, there is no doubt. But at other times he cer- 
tainly made such statements as forbid us on his own 
testimony to believe that he was equal with God ; 
indeed, he admits that he is an inferior being. In fact, 
Christ's own testimony concerning himself is contra- 
dictory ; and this leads me to question the truth of the 
Gospels, and so to reject Christ as the Son of God, and 
hence Christianity itself; for Christianity is nothing 
but a beautiful delusion if Christ is not what he claims 
to be. Now, he says in one place, " I and my Father are 
one ; " and again, " He that hath seen me hath seen the 
Father ; " and as I have before said, when on trial before 
the high priest, he still claimed, and that in the face of 
certain death, that he was the Son of God. But lie 
said on another occasion that his Father was greater 
than he. Now, he can't be one with God, and at the 
same time inferior to God. And he says, " All power 
is given unto me." Now, that is an admission that he 
did not have power himself, but it was given to him ; 



200 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

and surely he that receives power is inferior to him 
that gives it. Now, are not these contradictions in 
his own testimony ? and do not they destroy the worth 
of it entirely ? It seems to me, that whatever of truth 
there may be in the historical existence of Jesus Christ, 
he only imagined that he was. the Son of God,, and that 
in speaking of himself he spoke according to the mood 
he was in, sometimes believing himself to be the Son of 

God: 

" Finally I said, after turning to the passages he had 
referred to, and reading them aloud, — 

" 4 Now, suppose that you had been on earth when 
Jesus was here, and had heard him make these con- 
tradictory (?) statements, and had asked him, saying, 
"Master, I do not quite understand you. A little while 
ago you said, s I and my Father are one,' and, 6 He tha't 
hath seen me hath seen the Father ; ' and again you say* 
fc My Father is greater than I;' and, 'All power is given 
me.' How can you be one with the Father, and yet less 
than the Father ? and how can you be equal with the 
Father if your power is given to you and not yours 
independently?" And suppose he had said in reply, 
" My child, what if for the purpose of your redemption 
from sin and the curse of the law, I voluntarily laid 
aside my eternal glory,, and suffered myself to be made 
of a woman, and made under the law, thus limiting my 
being to the conditions of your nature, that I might in 
that nature offer up to God such a sacrifice for sin as 
would enable him to proclaim forgiveness of sins to the 



A CONVEET. 201 

whole world ? In such a case can you not conceive that 
there is no contradiction in these sayings of mine ? 
For indeed I am one with the Father, and he that 
hath seen me hath seen the Father ; but for purposes of 
atonement I have voluntarily assumed an inferior posi- 
tion, that I might thus take your place and die, which 
I could not have done unless I had taken a subordinate 
place. Thus I sometimes speak of my eternal relation 
to God, and sometimes my relation to him as the mes- 
senger of the covenant sent for to redeem." ' 

44 He listened attentively to this, and then said, as if 
speaking to himself, — 

44 4 Yes, that might be. I can see how that might be. 
But [speaking to me] did Christ ever make such an 
explanation ? Is that the theory of Christ's subordina- 
tion to the Father ? ' 

44 1 in answer turned to the second chapter of Philip- 
pians, and said, 4 Certainly this is the explanation of it. 
For see : Paul was trying to inculcate lessons of humility 
by exhorting the Philippians to voluntarily take a 
subordinate place in relation to each other, though they 
might as a matter of fact and right stand on an equality ; 
and enforced his exhortation by this reference : 44 Let 
this mind* be in you which was also in Christ Jesus ; 
who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to 
be equal with God [thought not his equality with God 
something to be contended for], but made himself of 
no reputation, and took upon him the form of a ser- 
vant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being 



202 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

found in fashion as a man he humbled himself, and 
became obedient unto death, even the death of the 
cross." ' (Phil. ii. 5-8.) 

" He took my Bible in his hand, and read the passage 
over and over himself, and said, ' Wonderful, wonder- 
ful ! ' And, still holding the book in his hand, with 
quivering chin and moistened eyes he said, — 

" ' Yes, the Son of God made himself of no reputa- 
tion for me, and took my nature, and died on the cross 
for me.' 

" And then looking up into my face, said, l What 
have I got to do about it ? ' 

" To which I replied, ' Accept him, believe on him, 
and confess him as your Saviour.' 

" ' May I ? ' 

" I replied, opening my Bible to Rom. x. 9, ' If thou 
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt 
believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the 
dead, thou shalt be saved.' 

" ' Let me see that.' 

" I handed him the book, and he read it aloud, and 
then said, — 

" * I do believe in my heart that God raised him from 
the dead, and I do acknowledge him as my Saviour.' 

" We dropped down together upon our knees (with a 
little group which had gathered about us), and I offered 
a little prayer of thanksgiving to God for his conver- 
sion, and a little petition for his keeping. 

" It will be seen at a glance that there was no attempt 



CONVERTS. 203 

made to meet his objections by an exhaustive argument, 
but by simply presenting the Biblical statement to him, 
leaving the work of conviction to the Holy Spirit. As 
a mere argument, the statement may have been very 
defective ; but God can take his own truth and use it 
more mightily than the strongest argument man can 
construct." 

" The blessed work went on from night to night, and 
from day to day, for nearly four months. Nor must it 
be supposed that the only personal efforts of this kind 
made were in the inquiry-rooms. Far from it. In 
homes, in shops, in counting-rooms, all over the city, 
God was working through his people. There must 
have been great joy in heaven in the presence of the 
angels of God during the continuance of tins work. 
At the close of it the names of forty-eight hundred 
converts who resided in Chicago, to say nothing of 
those living elsewhere, were recorded. May such a 
work, yea, a far greater one, be done in Boston ! " 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE EVANGELISTS IN BOSTON. — PROGRESS OF THE REVIVAL. - 
SECRET OF MR. MOODY'S SUCCESS. 

Preparations for the Revival. — The Tabernacle. — Unity of Sentiment. 

— Dedication of the Building. — Obstacles to the Work. — The 
Beginning. — Luxury of Doing Good. — Mr. Moody's Aim. — He 
asks for Prayer. — His Success. — Temperance. — Ladies' Meeting. — 
Reasons for Separate Services. — Jericho and Boston. — Rooms of 
Inquiry opened. — Spirit of the Meetings. — An Intemperate Man. 

— Days of Fasting. — Ministers at the Meeting. — " Faith." — Praise 
Meeting. — Dr. Mallalieu preaches on the Revival. — Mr. Moody's 
Belief. — His Sermons on Heaven. — Story of Mr. Sankey. — Service 
of Song. — Elements of his Power. — Simple Language. — Imagina- 
tion. — Study of the Bible. — Earnestness. — Naturalness. — Rapid- 
ity of Utterance. — The Spirit of God.— Mr. Moody's Personal 
Appearance. — Voice. — Manner. 

" I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting 
you in remembrance." — St. Peter. 

" Ride on in thy greatness, thou conquering Saviour; 
Let thousands of thousands submit to thy reign, 
Acknowledge thy goodness, entreat for thy favor, 
And follow thy glorious train." 

S. F. Smith. 

The two evangelists commenced their labors in 
Boston on Sunday, the 28th of January, 1877, under 
the most favorable auspices. Extensive preparations 
had been made, and every thing that human foresight 

204 



THE TABERNACLE. 205 

could devise was provided to secure success. A meet- 
ing at which seventy-eight churches were represented 
was held as early as the 8th of May, 1876, when it was 
voted to invite Messrs. Moody and Sankey to labor in 
Boston, and to extend to them hearty co-operation and 
support. On the 28th of June Mr. Moody himself 
visited Boston, and held a conference with the repre- 
sentatives of about three hundred churches, but came 
to no decision as to when he might commence his evan- 
gelical efforts in the city. At a meeting, Sept. 13, held 
by the committee before appointed, it was enlarged to 
fifty members, of which the Rev. E. B. Webb, D.D., 
was made the chairman. By the 6th of November the 
sum of thirty thousand dollars had been given or 
pledged for the construction of a building for the use 
of the revivalists; the work thereon was immediately 
commenced, and at the close of the second week in 
January completed. It is a substantial brick edifice on 
Tremont Street, with eight entrances, and capable of 
seating about six thousand persons. It has an ample 
platform for about eight hundred persons in addition to 
the choir, together with rooms for inquirers and other 
purposes. It is well lighted, warmed, and ventilated ; 
and, on the whole, presents without as well as within 
a tasteful, neat, and inviting aspect. While the work- 
men were constructing this large tabernacle, earnest 
prayers in churches, ministers' meetings, Christian con- 
ferences, sabbath schools, and domestic circles, were 
ascending for the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the 



DEDICATION OF THE BUILDING. 207 

people. Evangelical ministers were united, spiritual 
forces were combined, and Christians, forgetting the 
denominational lines dividing them, held union meet- 
ings, and freely gave their talents, time, and money, to 
help on the preparations. A choir of about two thou- 
sand singers under the direction of Dr. Eben Tourjee, 
and' divided into five complete organizations, together 
with a large company of Christian workers, was trained 
for the spiritual awakening ; ushers were appointed 
under the direction of Mr. Franklin W. Smith; the 
new " Gospel Hymns," prepared by Messrs. Bliss and 
Sankey, were sold by thousands ; and other provisions 
for efficient co-operation with the long-expected heralds 
of salvation made. 

The building was dedicated on Thursday evening, 
Jan. 25, when addresses were made by Bishop Foster, 
the Rev. R. Thomas, the Rev. R. R. Meredith, and the 
Rev. Dr. E. B. Webb ; the dedicatory prayer was 
offered by the Rev. A. J. Gordon ; the singing by Dr. 
TourjeVs large choir was grandly effective, and a pro- 
found solemnity prevailed through all the services. A 
free-will offering of $2,390 was made by the assembly. 

Preparations for evangelism on such an extended 
scale had never before been seen in the metropolis. 

But Boston prides itself on being the " Athens of 
America." Mr. Moody sometimes breaks the rules of 
grammar : will the people come to hear him ? Boston 
is sesthetical, fond of literary culture, critical. Mr. 
Moody has no taste for any thing but the Bible : 



OBSTACLES TO THE WORK. 209 

will he command attention ? Boston, with its numer- 
ous schools and institutions, is scientific, philosophical. 
Mr. Moody never studied Darwin : will his teachings 
be accepted? Boston abounds in learned theologians. 
Mr. Moody never read Hooker, Paley, Hodge, or Chan- 
ning : will he make an impression ? Such considera- 
tions filled the minds of some with doubt ; but those 
who knew the man, who had traced his wonderful 
career in Great Britain and America, felt assured that 
the Tabernacle had not been raised in vain. 

The two evangelists arrived soon after the dedica- 
tion; the preacher making his home with Mr. Henry F. 
Durant, the sacred minstrel his at the Hotel Bruns- 
wick. All things are in readiness : now what will the 
opening of their evangelism, what will the harvest be ? 

On Sunday afternoon, Jan. 28, the Tabernacle was 
densely crowded with an expectant throng ; and the 
services were opened with singing by the choir, and a 
prayer by the Rev. Dr. Webb. At length the two 
evangelists appeared upon the platform, Mr. Sankey 
taking his seat beside his beloved melodeon, and Mr. 
Moody at his little desk. The favorite hymns " Ninety 
and Nine" and "Only an Armor-Bearer" were then 
sung with sympathetic fervor ; after which Mr. Moody 
rose and delivered in his usual earnest and impetuous 
tone his oft-repeated sermon on " Going up to Possess 
the Land," adapting various parts of it, as he went 
along, to the condition of his audience. His aim was 
here, as in the beginning of his work in other cities, to 



210 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

incite Christians to personal consecration and activity. 
" When we came to Boston," said he, " some people 
thus spoke to me : ' Mr. Moody, we must give you a 
little warning. You must remember that Boston is a 
peculiar place, and you cannot expect to do the same 
here as elsewhere ; there are a great many obstacles.' 
It is the same old story : Boston is the same as other 
places. The enemy cannot hinder God from working, 
if we only have faith. This terrible unbelief God can 
shake in Boston, as easy as a mother can shake her 
little child." 

The audience appeared to be highly pleased with the 
brusque and earnest manner of the speaker ; and many 
felt and said, " There is a power here, of God or man, 
that cannot be resisted." 

In the evening the Tabernacle was again thronged 
to its utmost capacity, and " overflow meetings " were 
held in Clarendon-street and Berkeley-street Churches. 
Mr. Sankey concluded the introductory exercises by 
singing in his charming style the popular hymn by 
"Paulina" (Mrs. Bliss),— 

" We're marching to Canaan with banner and song," — 

when Mr. Moody came forward, and enchained the 
attention of the grand assembly by his spirited address 
on " Christian Courage," of which he himself might be 
cited as an illustrious example. The sermon abounded 
in stories, anecdotes, and epigrammatic points, with 
here and there a touch of pathos moving many in the 



LUXURY OF DOING GOOD. 211 

audience to tears. The luxury of doing good he thus 
vividly set forth : " Suppose," said he, " an angel could 
wing his way to this world to-night, and should go 
back to say, ' There is just one solitary child in Bos- 
ton, whose mother is dead, and whose father is drunk ; 
and the poor homeless, motherless boy is wandering in 
the street ; ' and God should call around his throne the 
angels, and ask if any one of them was willing to 
live here for fifty or a hundred years to save that little 
child: I don't think there would be one who would not 
volunteer. I can imagine each one saying, ; Lord, let 
me go, and have the luxury of leading one soul to 
Christ.' And yet the Church has folded its arms, and 
a great many of us are sound asleep.' " In his closing 
prayer he used the strong expression, " O Son of God, 
beat back these dark waves of death and hell, that 
come rolling down through the streets ; and may the 
day come when of the city of Boston, as of the city of 
Samaria, it shall be said, 4 There is great joy in that 
city.' ' After this, Mr. Sankey sung, as none but he 
can sing, " Hold the Fort ; " and the Rev. Phillips 
Brooks (Episcopalian) pronounced the benediction. 

The first noon prayer-meeting was held on Monday in 
Park-street Church, which was filled to overflowing. 
In the evening Mr. Moody delivered his sermon on the 
text " To every man his work," before an immense 
assemblage at the Tabernacle, — his design being, as 
before, to bring Christians into earnest personal labor 
for the salvation of their fellow-men. He regards the 



212 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

Church as God's great instrument for the conversion of 
the world, and therefore labors wisely in the outset for 
its renovation. 

In the prayer-meeting held after the close of the reg- 
ular services, Mr. Moody said, " We are here to-night 
to pray for one another. Remember me in your prayers. 
I do not understand it, but I have many times felt 
when I have gone from one place to another, and tried 
to do the work with the grace that God has given me 
to work in another place, it seems to me that every time 
we change we need a fresh baptism, a fresh power, a 
fresh supply of grace ; and, now we have come to Bos- 
ton, we would like to have you pray for us, that God 
may bless us with his Spirit, and Christ may enter all 
our prayers, and be a power in us to preach the simple 
gospel. And now, if there are any friends to pray for us 
and to be prayed for, would you just rise ? " 

As many as three thousand people rose, and the Rev. 
Mr. Pentecost made a fervent prayer. 

At the noon prayer-meeting in Tremont Temple on 
Tuesday, Jan. 80, there was an immense crowd pres- 
ent, and hundreds were not able to obtain admittance. 
Mr. Sankey sung Mrs. Lydia Baxter's fine hymn " Take 
the Name of Jesus with you " most effectively, and 
Mr. Moody spoke upon his favorite theme, " The Char- 
acter of Daniel." The large attendance at the various 
meetings during the week, the heavy blows that Mr. 
Moody struck into the formalism and indifference of 
Christians, the hearty response of ministers and others 



ladies' meeting. 213 

to his appeals for greater personal activity, the effective 
solo and chorus singing, together with the interest 
observable in the respective churches, gave assurance 
that the Tabernacle had not been raised in vain. The 
long-desired revival had already begun. Hearts which 
the eloquence of the learned could not reach were 
moved and melted by the simple and pathetic words of 
the evangelists. 

At the Friday noon meeting, Feb. 2, the Tabernacle 
was completely filled. The theme was " Temperance ; " 
and in the course of his remarks Mr. Moody said, " What 
are we going to do to stem this terrible torrent of ini- 
quity ? We have tried a great many methods : we have 
had our temperance societies and bands of hope, our 
lodges and our reform-clubs ; we have had the pledge. 
But I am almost discouraged with these things ; I am 
coming to the conclusion that the only hope is that the 
Son of God is to come and to destroy man's appetite for 
liquor." Such is the view of the evangelist : yet he 
believes in means and instruments ; must we not, then, 
use them in respect to temperance until the Son of God 
does come ? In the course of the meeting three re- 
formed inebriates spoke ; and, when the audience began 
to applaud the last speaker, Mr. Moody rose at once and 
said, " Let us praise God with our hearts, and keep our 
hands still." 

At the close of the meeting at the Tabernacle another 
very devotional exercise, at which about a thousand 
ladies were present, was held in Berkeley-street 



214 LIFE OF DWLGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

Church. At Chicago Mr. Moody gave as a reason for 
classifying some of the meetings, that he could thereby 
do the most good to the greatest number of people. 
" There were a great many good brethren and sisters 
who seemed bound to attend every single meeting. 
They were always on hand promptly, and always occu- 
pied the front seats. When he and Mr. Sankey were 
in New York, there was one man who always sat up in 
front, and even Mr. Sankey said he got tired of seeing 
that same face in the same place every night. When 
they went to Philadelphia, they thought they had seen 
the last of this brother ; but no, he was there every 
night, and seemed to have nothing to do but to come 
early and get one of the best seats. [Laughter.] When 
they returned to New York, there was their eld friend 
again in his old seat; but he couldn't get into the 
woman's meetings, and then at least he had no chance 
to crowd somebody else out who didn't have his oppor- 
tunities for attending." 

Although his son Willie was seriously ill, Mr. Moody 
presented himself in the evening at the Tabernacle, and 
spoke with his wonted vehemence on the text " Who is 
my neighbor? " saying with startling effect, — 

" I don't think Jericho is far from Boston : I don't 
think you have got to travel thousands of miles to get 
to Jericho. I think you will find a great many who 
have been stripped and wounded and left half dead in 
the streets of Boston. Eight or ten Christians came to 
me to-day to set them to work. I looked at them in 



SPIEIT OF THE MEETINGS. 215 

perfect amazement, — persons who have been living ten 
and fifteen years in Boston, and yet want a stranger to 
set them to work ! Ah ! you will find enough to do if 
you will keep your eyes open." 

On Sunday morning, Feb. 4, Mr. Moody preached 
to sabbath-school teachers, and said as he went along 
that he had never had his work open better than in 
Boston. In the afternoon he delivered his sermon on 
" Sowing and Reaping " to the ladies, and in the even- 
ing, the same discourse to men alone. The inquiry- 
rooms, opened for the first time to-day, were visited by 
as many as five hundred people, some of whom had just 
found peace in believing. 

In the morning Mr. Moody attended service at the 
Technological Institute, and listened to an eloquent 
sermon by the Rev. Phillips Brooks. 

The noon meeting at the Tabernacle, Feb. 8, was 
attended by about five thousand people. A praise- 
meeting well conducted by Mr. H. L. Whitney, and 
many requests for prayer, preceded Mr. Moody's ser- 
vice. This was upon the " Necessity of Salvation," and 
by it many hearts were moved. Although some take 
exceptions to the methods used in the revival-work, — 
such as the urgency of appeals to the inquirer, and the 
presentation of so many special requests for prayer, — 
the solemnity of the meetings, the numbers converted, 
and the brightening of the hopes of Christians, are sure 
indications that the Spirit of God is silently moving the 
hearts of the people. 



216 LITE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

To an Irishman who presented himself to Mr. Moody 
as a Catholic, he said, " I suppose you are an enemy 
of all righteousness." — " What makes you think so ? " 
replied the indignant visitor. " I smell your breath," 
answered the revivalist. He afterwards knelt with the 
intemperate man in prayer. 

Many of the churches in the State observed this day 
as one of fasting and prayer on behalf of the efforts of 
the two evangelists in the metropolis. It was also 
observed in the city of Chicago. The meetings at the 
Tabernacle still continue to increase in interest, and the 
awakening is felt in many of the city and suburban 
churches. 

The Tabernacle on the 9th inst. was densely crowded, 
and the opening prayer was made by the Rev. Phillips 
Brooks. Mr. Sankey sung, "Free from the Law," and 
" Hallelujah ! what a Name ! " with his usual tender- 
ness, after which Mr. Moody's strong sermon ,on " The 
Spirit of the Lord is upon me," &c, commanded the 
undivided attention of the audience until its close. 
He daily gains in power ; and few can listen to his 
fervid utterances and breathe the spirit of his audiences 
without exclaiming, " God is here ! " 

The evangelists began upon the third week of their 
work in Boston on Sunday, the 11th of February, when 
five meetings of profound solemnity were held. That 
in the afternoon was for ladies,- that in the evening for 
men. The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher occupied to-day 
the pulpit of Mr. Moody in Chicago. The desire to 



MINISTERS AT THE MEETING. 217 

hear him was intense, and thousands were unable to 
gain admission to the church. 

It was pleasant to see at the evening service, Feb. 13, 
as many as fifty clergymen seated on the platform, and 
listening to Mr. Moody's effective sermon on " The 
New Birth." More eloquent speakers and skilful 
singers than these two evangelists we have, but none 
that so gain access to the interior chambers of the heart, 
and so unseal the fountain of tears. Mr. Moody 
preached a very practical sermon on " Faith," at the 
afternoon meeting, Thursday the 15th, pleasantly illus- 
trating one point by referring thus to the Rev. Dr. 
Gordon : — 

" Some say they are so constituted they cannot 
believe God. Away with that delusion ! What has 
your constitution to do with it? Suppose Dr. 
Gordon here asked me to take dinner with him to- 
morrow, .and I said, 'Doctor, I'd like to, but I don't 
know that I can.' — ' Why, are you engaged ? ' — ' No,' 
I reply, 'but I don't know that I feel just right.' — 
' Don't feel just right ! What do you mean ? Don't 
you want to come to dinner with me ? ' says Dr. 
Gordon. ' Oh, yes ! ' I say, ' but I am so constituted I 
can't believe you want me to come.' [Laughter.] 
Ah ! you laugh, but yet that is what people are doing 
when they say they are so constituted that they can't 
believe the Eternal God. God invites you to the feast, 
and it is a real invitation. If God sent his Son down 
into this world, and didn't give you power to believe, 



218 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

and then punished }*ou eternally for not believing on 
him, he would be an unjust God. But God doesn't 
do that : with the command to believe, God gives you 
the power." 

Mr. Moody is remarkably prompt in respect to every 
service, — commencing and closing precisely at the 
time appointed. He thus not only inspires confidence, 
but sets a fine example to dilatory ministers and men 
of business. 

On Sunday evening, Feb. 18, Mr. Moody repeated 
to men his sermon on " The Compassion of our Lord," 
which he had given in the afternoon to ladies. The 
praise-meeting under the direction of Dr. E. Tourjee 
was admirabl} T conducted ; and, as the strains of music 
from the immense congregation rose and swelled and 
died away, the soul had some sweet foretaste of the 
harmonies of the golden shore. The praise-meeting is 
an admirable feature of the service. In his own church 
to-day the Rev. Dr. Mallalieu preached a " sermon on 
" The Critics of the Evangelists," during which he said 
that we are learning by this revival that the gospel 
may be preached effectively hj the uneducated, as well 
as by learned ministers ; and that the plain, cheap 
Tabernacle, with the Lord's work in it, is solving the 
question, " How to reach the masses in our cities." 
Of his opponents Mr. Moody takes no notice ; but, 
with an eye single to his Master's service, presses 
enthusiastically on his way, rejoicing in the luxury of 
doing good. 



SERMONS ON HEAVEN. 219 

The churches are alive, and " evangelical religion in 
Boston," says a leading journal, " never presented a 
bolder front. There is no longer any doubt as to the 
doctrines held by the revivalist. He is an out-and-out 
believer in the ruined state of man, in the substitution 
of the blood of Christ for broken law, and in pardon 
gained through faith in him. He believes in the 
Trinity, the personality of the Devil, the second coming 
of Christ, the salvation of those believing in him, and 
the everlasting punishment of those rejecting him. He 
also holds that conversion is instantaneous, and that 
good works follow as a consequence." 

Mr. Charles M. Sawyer, a reformed inebriate of 
Chicago but formerly of Boston, is rendering him 
assistance in respect to temperance ; and many men who 
have renounced strong drink are among the trophies 
of this awakening. 

On Feb. 20 Mr. Moody preached his famous sermon 
on " Heaven," repeating it in the evening to an 
assembly composed largely of young men. The service 
was opened by the Rev. Robert Lowry, author of 
" Shall we gather at the River ? " and other beautiful 
hymns. More than three hundred requests for prayer 
were made to-day ; and the eyes of many ministers, of 
whom there might have been one hundred present, 
were filled with tears at the reports of a revival of 
religion in many of the churches. The inquiry-meet- 
ings are now kept open from four until nine o'clock, 
P.M. ; and Christian workers are busily employed, with 
the Bible in hand, leading young and old to Jesus. 



220 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

On Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 21, the vast assembly 
at the Tabernacle listened to the revivalist's second 
great sermon on " Heaven," which was repeated in the 
evening. Many people from the country were present, 
and heard for the first time the celebrated preacher. 
The singing was inspiring ; and, in the glowing elo- 
quence of the evangelist, all forgot the characteristics 
of his style or diction. It is the subject, sharply de- 
fined, distinct, and luminous, that he presents to the 
mind's eye of the listener, and not its drapery or him- 
self. At the noon meeting Mr. Sankey, in referring to 
the "living water" spoken of by our Saviour, told a 
little story of a girl who had a garden and in it beautiful 
flowers. After a short time, however, the plants began 
to droop and fade, and gradually they died. 

" Her mother upon questioning her said, 'Did you 
water the plants, my child ? ' to which she replied that 
she did, and took the water from a spring near by. 
That was just the difficulty : the water, being cold and 
clear as crystal, had eventually chilled the flowers and 
plants so that they perished. 

" That is the very reason why many of our works are 
not more successful. We shed abroad this cold love 
of ours, and it has the same effect as the spring water 
upon the flowers. Let us set it in the sunlight of 
righteousness, and then apply it, and notice the differ- 
ent result. 

" Let us impart more life to our works, and have the 
word in the heart as well as in the mouth." 






STOEY OF ME. SANKEY. 221 

The sale of Bagster's Bible has greatly increased this 
season in the city, while that of the " Gospel Hymns 
No. 2 " by Sankey and Bliss has been immense. 

The meetings on the 22d were largely attended ; and, 
it being the birthday of Washington, prayers were 
offered for the country. The singing by the choir, as 
well as Mr. Sankey's rendering of Mrs. M. A. Kidder's 
fine hymn on immortality, — 

" We shall sleep, but not forever: 

There will be a glorious dawn," — 

was deeply impressive, and will never be forgotten by 
those present. The Rev. Charles E. Robinson, author 
of " The Songs of the Sanctuary," made an eloquent 
address during the closing services. 

At the meeting on Friday evening, Mr. Moody in 
speaking on " Grace " said, " A man came to the Taber- 
nacle Thursday night to hear Mr. Sankey sing. When 
he had satisfied himself, he wanted to go out before the 
sermon ; but some one who was with him induced him 
to remain. When I got to the story of the man in 
Chicago who spent twenty-one thousand dollars and 
became a beggar, the Spirit of God found him out. I 
found him at the young men's meeting. 

" When I had told him how he could be saved, he 
said, ' I wish you would pray for a brother-in-law of 
mine.' That is grace. The moment a man becomes a 
partaker, he wants some one else to be saved." 

With Mr. A. S. Ackers at the organ and an excellent 



222 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

choir, Dr. TourjeVs praise-meeting which precedes the 
regular service is a most fitting and delightful prepara- 
tion for the preaching and the singing of the gospel by 
the great evangelists. 

On Monday evening, Feb. 26, a grand service of song 
was held at the Tabernacle, which was filled in every 
part. Dr. Tourjee led the choir, consisting of more 
than six hundred voices, which sung the fine old hymns 
with an effect truly sublime. Mr. Sankey said : — 

" I believe there are more ways than one of praising 
God in singing. There are many, many ways, and it is 
not exclusively confined to singing hymns. Several 
hymns are put under the head ' Hymns of Praise,' while 
there is no praise in them at all. As to singing solos, 
I am convinced that this kind of singing is not thor- 
oughly understood by most people. If I were to come 
here and sing a solo of some of these songs, there would 
be no praise in them ; but yet your prayers often recite, 
' As we join together to sing His praises, may his bless- 
ings descend upon the preaching of his word in song.' 

" Now, there is praising and teaching and preaching 
in song ; but these missions of song are not fully 
understood. Take the hymns c Jesus of Nazareth 
passeth by,' and ' What shall the Harvest be ? ' they 
are called hymns of praise often ; and yet there is not 
a word of praise in them. They are teaching hymns ; 
but ' Praise God, from whom all blessings flow,' is a 
hymn of praise. I suppose many have wondered why 
I have sung alone. They have thought, ' He cannot 



SERVICE OF SONG. 223 

offer up praise for all these people.' Well, I sing 
alone because I believe that I may reach some heart 
that could not be reached by the congregational sing- 
ing. I praise God to-night that he has blessed our 
service of song." 

Brief addresses were made by the Revs. W. O. 
Holman and H. M. Parsons ; the congregation sung, 
" Trusting Jesus, that is all." 

Mr. Sankey closed the musical services by singing in 
his own sympathetic style, " Waiting and Watching 
for me." 

In speaking of the noon meeting, which was very 
large, at the Tabernacle on Tuesday the 27th, the 
" Evening Traveller " says, — 

" Notwithstanding the inevitable s sameness ' of the 
exercises, the crowds still press onward to the Taber- 
nacle to hear the ' word ' presented by Mr. Moody, and 
the ' goodness of his grace ' sung by his companion. 
This blunt man, with his wonderful store of the richest 
gems of thought, still brings men to a more complete 
realization of their own sinfulness ; and the multitudes 
sit entranced by the almost magic music of the singer, 
as at the commencement of the religious movement in 
this city." 

Many instances of conversion have occurred under 
the influence of the sympathetic singing of Mr. Sankey. 
One young lady, leaning her head upon her mother's 
shoulder during the execution of one of his touching 
melodies, said, while the tears were fast falling, 



224 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

" Mother, I can hold out no longer : I will be a Chris- 
tian." 

In his able sermon on " Excuses," Feb. 28, Mr. 
Moody said, " I was over at the young converts' meet- 
ing Monday evening, and heard them tell of their joy 
and happiness. "Well, my good friend, after you be- 
come a Christian you can talk about happiness. You 
want a Christian's experience before you become a 
Christian ; that is the trouble : and you are looking for 
their experience before you have taken God at his word. 

" I met an excuse in the inquiry-room the other day ; 
in fact, it was quite common : i I would not like to be 
converted, Mr. Moody, in the time of a revival.' If it 
is really a bona fide excuse, you can jump on the train, 
and drop off at some country town where there is no 
revival ; and if you cannot go out of town I think we 
can find some churches in Boston where there is no 
revival. I don't care where you find Christ, as long as 
you find him. If you come to us we will try and hunt 
you up some church where they haven't had any revi- 
val for years, if you really want to become a Christian." 

Miss Frances E. Willarcl, a lady of rare accomplish- 
ments, conducts efficiently the ladies' meetings held at 
one o'clock, P.M., in a church near the Tabernacle. 

The question is often proposed, " How is this un- 
lettered speaker, ignorant of the arts of eloquence, thus 
able to command the attention of the largest audiences, 
and produce such wonderful results ? Whiten eld, 
Wesley, Finney, had learning to sustain them : how 



ELEMENTS OF HIS POWER. 225 

does Mr, Moody produce without it such impressions ? 
What is the lever by which he moves the world ? " 

Under a human point of view, the secret of his power 
consists, it may be, in a felicitous combination of these 
several characteristics : — 

1. He uses simple Saxon language. He knows no 
other. His words are household words, plain, homely, 
pertinent. They present his thought precisely as it is, 
unshaded by the diction. The hearer takes his mean- 
ing without thinking of the form in which it comes to 
him. The words are Bible words, familiar to us from 
our infancy. The idea shines through them as the 
light through crystal. Perhaps no man since Bunyan 
has presented grand religious truths in plainer drapery. 
A child may understand him ; and yet the learned are 
frequently astonished at his sharp, trenchant, and 
original expressions. A friend of mine once took a 
dictionary with him to church, in order to find out the 
meaning of the minister. Mr. Moody's language is not 
that of science or theology, but of business and the 
Bible. This is one point. 

2. But Mr. Moody is in the higher sense a poet. He 
has not made rhymes or verse ; and yet he has the 
glowing conceptions of a poet. He sees things vividly, 
he paints them vividly. His use of tropes and meta- 
phors, to be sure, is but infrequent ; yet at times he 
manifests Shaksperian power in the representation of 
actual or imaginary scenes. Take for example, as one 
instance out of thousands, a description of a scene of 



226 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY, 

sorrow, in a sermon preached at Brattleboro, Vt., Oct. 
5, 1875: "One of ray little scholars was drowned; 
and word was sent by the mother that she wanted to 
see me. I went. The dripping body was there on the 
table. The husband was in the corner drunk. The 
mother said she had no money to buy a shroud or 
coffin, and wanted to know if I could not bury Adeline. 
I consented." What could be more graphic, or better 
fitted for the pencil of a painter ? Mr. Moody is matter- 
of-fact, to be sure ; but still he has a grand imagination. 

3. His persistent study of the Bible forms another 
element of his power as a preacher. He pores over the 
pages of the sacred volume, not through the spectacles 
of some learned commentator, but with his own ob- 
servant eye comparing passage with passage, and text 
with context. He makes the Bible interpret the Bible. 
He traces out a line of thought in it, as the miner a 
vein of gold through the rock-bed of the mountain. 
He is emphatically a man of one book, and that the 
soul-rousing, the soul-sustaining book of the ages. 
His intellect has been nurtured, quickened, and magne- 
tized by this word ; his weapons are drawn from this 
word ; his positions are fortified by this word ; his plans 
are formed upon this word ; and this is another reason 
why he speaks with such convincing power. 

It is surprising to mark his familiarity with the 
Scriptures. They have been, as with David, his medi- 
tation day and night. Their contents are engraven on 
his heart. His revelation of their meaning shows as 



ELEMENTS OF HIS POWER. 227 

well to-day as when inspiration dictated them that they 
are the power of God unto salvation. When a clerk in 
a shoe-store in Chicago, and long ere he was known or 
thought of as a preacher, Mr. Moody used, after spend- 
ing the evening in joyous recreation, to retire to his 
bed with his Bible in his hand, and read and pray him- 
self to sleep. He has since made it the intimate com- 
panion of his life, — studying it by night and by clay, 
and drawing from it the enginery whereby he breaks 
the strongholds of the adversary. His sermons on the 
study of the Bible indicate the origin of a great deal of 
his intellectual strength. 

4. Enthusiasm in his work has much to do with his 
success. He has a great warm, loving, and unselfish 
heart. It is in profounclest sympathy with the suffer- 
ings of humanity. He sees in every man, however poor 
and penniless, a brother, and he would help him bear 
his burden. He is never so happy as when lifting 
some abject, hopeless mortal to a higher plane in life. 
His heart is a fountain of sympathy, not pent up by 
fear and formalism, but open, free, redundant. He 
believes in his mission ; he glories in it. With him 
Christ is a reality, life is a reality, heaven is a reality. 
He is on a battlefield with the foe before him : the guns 
are pealing ; he smells the fire ; he sees the blood ; 
he hears the peal of victory. Abstractions with him go 
for nothing : he takes God at his word, grasps the 
tremendous issues of the future, and speaks of them as 
present, actual, living verities. Hence he is, because so 



228 LIFE OF DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

fixed in faith, making it the very " substance of things 
hoped for," profoundly earnest and enthusiastic. With 
his ovrn spirit thus enkindled, he electrifies the spirits 
of those who hear him. 

5. He has also, as a check to his enthusiasm, an 
ample fund of good, sound common sense, so that, while 
the ardor of many revivalists leads them into fanaticism, 
he is, in the main, self-possessed, and adopts such 
methods as commend themselves to the good judg- 
ment of the people. " Common sense," says a writer, 
" stamps all his earnestness and all his plans ; and this 
wins in a remarkable manner all who come in contact 
with him. TvTiatever else may be said of him, no one 
can call him a fanatic ; and this gives to his steady, in- 
vincible, untiring self-sacrifice such irresistible power." 

6. Though not prepossessing in his voice or gesture, 
Mr. Moody is intensely natural. This is of great ad- 
vantage to him as a speaker. He is just such a rugged, 
whole-souled, unaffected man as nature made him. 
There is no study, no art, no pretension at all about 
him. He never stood before a glass to practise attitude 
or gesticulation ; he never stopped to ask himself the 
question, "Is this movement graceful, or ungraceful?" 
He never drew, perhaps never saw, Hogarth's Line of 
Beauty. He is intensely natural, — a little rough 
sometimes it may be, but characteristic, forceful, and 
original. 

7. It may also be added, that, in speaking, Mr. Moody's 
rapidity of utterance — it being often at the rate of two 



MANNER. 229 

hundred and twenty words per minute — tends to keep 
up the interest of the audience. The Kevs. Henry Ward 
Beecher, Phillips Brooks, and other eminent speakers, 
well understand the effect produced by quick enuncia- 
tion. By the mere velocity of Mr. Moody's tongue 
something is doubtless done to disarm criticism, and 
to deepen the intensity of feeling in the assembly. 

8. Still with all these varied elements — simplicity of 
diction, a vivid imagination, long study of the Bible, 
enthusiasm in his work, good sterling common sense, 
naturalness and rapidity of speech — combining, it were 
not easy to account for his wonderful ability to sway 
the minds and change the intents and purposes of the 
hearts of such vast multitudes of men. Another and 
a higher element must be acknowledged. What is it ? 
Not man alone, not the Bible, nor the manner of pre- 
senting its sublime instructions, but the Spirit of the 
living God, co-operating specially with the spirit of the 
speaker, and preparing the minds of those that hear for 
the reception of the truth. This untutored evangelist 
is a man of prayer. He has drunk deeply of the hid- 
den wisdom of God ; the mantle of inspiration has 
fallen upon him ; and the doctors of the law, as well as 
the common people, sit and weep and wonder at his 
feet. Did the High and Holy One cease to dwell in 
the hearts of men when the canon of the gospel was 
completed ? May we not, then, admit that over and 
above and through the points referred to, his special 
presence is the real, the efficient cause of the surpris- 



230 LIFE OF D WIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

ing influence that Mr. Moody exerts upon the hearts 
and consciences of men ? " The Holy Ghost is here 
in power," says he ; and this alone is the solution of the 
problem. " God is with me : this is all the strength I 
have," he says again ; and herein is the real secret of 
his might. 

In person Mr. Moody is of medium size, thick-set 
and compactly built, with broad shoulders, a round 
head, ruddy face, and short neck. His eyes are dark 
and piercing ; his nose is very well formed ; but his 
mouth is wanting that fine classic finish which bespeaks 
the orator. He wears a long, full beard, which, though 
it may improve his looks, is detrimental to his speech. 
He dresses plainly, in the style of a man of business. 
His voice is somewhat shrill and husky, his articula- 
tion indistinct; yet his lungs are powerful, and he 
easily succeeds in making himself heard by as many as 
ten thousand people. His unstudied gestures are some- 
times quite forcible, and his attitudes often lead one to 
suppose him utterly unconscious of the audience before 
him. 



A SKETCH 



LIFE OF IRA DAVID SANKEY. 



IRA D. SANKEY. 

HIS BLRTH AND BOYHOOD. —EDUCATION. — MISSION. 

Birth. — Education. — Love of Music. — Religious Impressions. — Con- 
version. — Unites with the Church. — Superintendent of Sunday 
School, and Class Leader. — Study of the Bible. — Army Life. — 
Connection with the Revenue Service. — His Character. — Sings in 
Conventions. — President of the Young Men's Christian Association. 

— Meets Mr. Moody. — Consents to labor with him. — Singing in 
Chicago. — His Manner and Motives. — A Touching Story. — Takes 
Charge of the Service at the Tabernacle. — His only Hymn. — Visits 
Great Britain. — Overcomes Prejudice. — His Singing popular. — ■ 
Effects of his Music. — In the Highlands. — Opinion of an Edin- 
burgh Journalist. — Of Another "Writer. — Popularity of Certain 
Songs. — Theatre and Circus, London. — " Ninety and Nine." — His 
Singing at Brooklyn; at Philadelphia. — His Views of Church Music. 

— His Singing at New York. — Address at the Close. — Gospel Songs 
No. 2. — Singing in Boston. — A Prayer for Song. — Mr. Sankey's 
Tact and Power. — Remarks of " The Inter- Ocean ; " of Mrs. Barbour. 
— Mr. Sankey's Personal Appearance. — An Address to him by Mr. 
Caverly. 

" Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and 
making melody in your heart to the Lord " — St. Paul. 

" A verse may win him whom the gospel flies, 
And turn delight into a sacrifice." — George Herbert. 

" Music speaks the heart's emotion, 
Music tells the soul's devotion ; 
Music heavenly harps employs, 
Music wakens heavenly joys." — Anon. 

The delightful and effective singer and composer 
Ira David Sankev was born in the little village of 

233 



234 LIFE OF IK A DAVID SANKEY. 

Edinburgh, Lawrence County, Penn., on the twenty- 
eighth day of August, 1840, and is therefore at the pres- 
ent time thirty-six years old. His parents, David and 
Mar}?- Sankey, the former of English, and the latter of 
Scotch-Irish descent, are respectable and pious people. 
They brought up their children — nine in number — in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord. They taught 
them also how to speak our language with propriety. 
In early boyhood Ira began to manifest a love for 
sacred music, and the sweetness of his voice was 
noticed in the sabbath school which he attended. He 
had a pleasant disposition, an engaging manner, and a 
bright, sunny smile, which won the hearts of all who 
knew him. "He was," says one of his companions, 
" the finest little fellow in the neighborhood." His 
attention to the subject of personal religion, as he him- 
self relates, was first awakened by an old Scottish 
farmer of the name of Frazer, living in the neighbor- 
hood. " The very first recollection I have of any 
thing pertaining to a holy life," said Mr. Sankey in 
addressing a company of children in the city of Dundee, 
Scotland, " was in connection with that man. I re- 
member he took me by the hand, along with his own 
boys, to the sabbath school, — that old place which I 
shall remember to my dying day. He was a plain man, 
and I can see him standing up and praying for the chil- 
dren. He had a great, warm heart, and the children all 
loved him. It was years after that when I was con- 
verted ; but ni} r impressions were received when I was 
very voumx, from that man." 



UNITES WITH THE CHUECH. 235 

On attaining the age of fifteen years lie began to 
compose tunes for his own amusement; and he was 
soon after led during a revival of religion in Edin- 
burgh, by the entreaties of an old steward of the church, 
to consecrate himself entirely to the service of the 
Lord. This brought to him that peace of mind which 
passeth understanding. Not long afterwards his father 
removed with his family to the large town of New- 
castle, Penn., where the young singer had the benefit 
of some academical instruction, and obtained the rudi- 
ments of a useful English education. He also became 
a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He made 
the word of God and sacred music his chief study ; and 
the tones of his sweet, silvery voice in the songs of 
devotion attracted many people to the house of wor- 
ship. Such was the beauty of his Christian life, such 
his knowledge of the Bible, that in 1859 the church 
appointed him superintendent of the Sunday school, 
and subsequently a class-leader. In training the voices 
of his school to sing, his own musical taste was im- 
proved, his reputation as a vocalist extended ; while 
his discussions as a class-leader with those older than 
himself led him to a closer examination of the sacred 
volume. " Tell me your condition," said he to his 
beloved class, "in Bible language. The Scriptures 
abound in accounts of religious feeling of all descrip- 
tions. There is no state of grace which may not be 
described by a text." As a leader of the choir, he 
insisted on the proper deportment of the singers, as 



236 LIFE OF IRA DAVID SANKEY. 

well as on the correct expression of the sentiment of 
the hymn. He believed that song was intended for the 
dissemination of the gospel ; and he early began to sing 
solos for this purpose. In this way he was making 
preparation, though unconsciously, for the glorious 
work in which he is now engaged. 

On the call of President Lincoln in 1861, for men 
to sustain the Government, Mr. Sankey was among the 
first in Newcastle to have his name enrolled as a soldier. 
He remained in the army, enlivening the camp and 
endearing his companions to him by the sweetness of 
his music and his temper, until the expiration of his 
term of service, when he returned to Newcastle to assist 
his father in his office as collector of the revenue. 
" In the civil service, as in other departments of labor," 
says one who knew him intimately, " he was noted for 
conscientiousness, and patient, faithful attention to 
duty. In his rank he stood first in the district, and 
had the entire confidence of all the officers and tax- 
payers with whom he had official dealings. In his long 
connection with the service, there were never known 
any irregularities in his accounts, or any loss to the 
government. On this account he left the service with 
honor and with the regret of those who were asso- 
ciated with him." 

On the 9th of September, 1863, he married Miss 
Edwards, a member of the church, a singer in his choir, 
and a teacher in his sabbath school. She is an estimable 
woman, and the mother of three sons ; of whom Henry, 



MEETS ME. MOODY. 287 

the oldest, is now beginning to assist his father in his 
evangelism. One of the children was born in Scotland. 

While engaged in the civil service, Mr. Sankey found 
many opportunities, especially in the way of sacred 
song, to labor for his Lord and Master. His fame as a 
singer had spread through Western Pennsylvania, and 
invitation after invitation crowded in upon him to 
attend conventions, conferences, and other public 
gatherings, for the purpose of singing his beautiful 
solos, and of leading other voices in song. These 
invitations he generally accepted,' believing that the 
gospel should' be sung as well as preached; yet his 
rule was never to receive any compensation for his 
services. 

He had not studied music scientifically, or even as an 
art. His intention had never been to make the practice 
of it a profession ; but he saw in it a mighty force for 
the advancement of the kingdom of the Redeemer. 
He consecrated his power of song, as every other gift, 
entirely to that noble cause, and God has wonderfully 
blessed the consecration. 

Some time in the early part of 1867, a Young Men's 
Christian Association was, through the activity of Mr. 
Sankey and other gentlemen, formed in Newcastle, of 
which he subsequently was elected president. Through 
this institution his Christian influence was extended, 
and he became instrumental in leading many by his 
voice of prayer and praise into a Christian life. The 



238 LIFE OF IEA DAVID SANKEY. 

acquaintance between him and Mr. Moody began in 
June, 1870, at an international convention held in 
Indianapolis, to which he had been sent as a delegate. 
The singing at an early morning prayer-meeting being 
intolerably dull, Mr. Sankey was invited to take 
charge of it. Coming forward modestly, he complied 
with the request ; and such was the charm of his 
manner, such were the sympathetic and flexible tones 
of his voice, varying so as to express every emotion 
of the soul, such were the freshness, tenderness, and 
beauty of his songs, that every heart was won. Though 
ignorant of music, Mr. Moody understands full well its 
power ; and he saw in Mr. Sankey just the man whom 
he had long been searching for to aid him in his work. 
On being introduced to the sweet singer, he said to him 
in his characteristic way, — 

" Where do you live ? " 

" In Newcastle, Penn.," Mr. Sankey answered. 

" Are you married ? " 

" Yes." 

" How many children have you ? " 

' One." 

" I want you." 

" What for ? " 

" To help me in my work at Chicago." 

"I cannot leave my business." 

" You must : I have been looking for you for the last 
eight years. You must give up your business, and come 
to Chicago with me." 



SINGING IN CHICAGO. 239 

" I will think of it," replied Mr. Sankey. "I will 
pray over it ; I will talk it over with my wife." 

The result was that the si*ger of Newcastle, after 
prayer and consultation with his wife, determined to 
identify his interests with those of Mr. Moody, to live 
with him the life of trust, and enter on the work of 
evangelization in the city of Chicago. In this almost 
romantic way commenced that Christian fellowship 
between these two gifted servants of the Lord, which 
the toils and trials of six long years have cemented as 
a bond that death alone can sever. 

Although Mr. Philip Phillips, author of " I love to 
sing for Jesus," and other beautiful tunes, had in some 
measure prepared the people of Chicago to listen to the 
"solo singing of the gospel," still many supposed it an 
unscriptural innovation ; yet such was the melody, the 
flexibility, and pathetic charm of Mr. Sankey's voice, 
that opposition soon changed to admiration, and his 
services soon came to be justly appreciated by the 
clergy and the churches. He entered heart and soul 
into the missionary work of Mr. Mood}^, and led the 
great congregation and sabbath school in his church, as 
well as at Farwell Hall, in the service of song, giving 
it life and variety by intermingling with the mighty 
choruses some touching strain, as, " Sweet Hour of 
Prayer," " He leadeth me," or, " I love to tell the 
Stor}-," sung tenderly and touchingly by himself alone. 

These hallowed and refreshing songs, rising sweetly 
at the close of some earnest appeal of Mr. Moody's, 



240 LIFE OF IRA DAVID SANKEY. 

would melt the audience into tears; and amidst the 
profoundest feeling every tone would touch the heart, 
as if an angel's wing»were sweeping over it. Mr. 
Sankey sings, not for money nor for reputation, but for 
the lofty purpose of winning men to Christ. He be- 
lieves in the power of song to do this. His songs are 
Bible songs : he puts his soul, and that an inspired soul, 
into them. He makes the music all subservient to the 
sentiment, and so, by its heavenly ministry, fixes it in 
the listener's mind. Though not an artist, he sings 
with such excellent taste that the cultivated ear re- 
ceives his simple melodies with delight. The gospel 
in song thus becomes more charming and potential in 
its sway. He himself relates a most touching instance 
of its influence : — 

"During the winter after the great Chicago fire, 
when the place was built up with little frame houses 
for the poor people to stay in, a mother sent for me one 
day, to come and see her little child, who was one of 
our sabbath-school scholars. I remembered her very 
well, having seen her in the meetings, and was glad to 
go. She was lying in one of these poor little huts, 
every thing having been burned in the fire. I ascer- 
tained that she was past all hopes of recovery, and that 
they were waiting for the little one to pass away. 
4 How is it with you to-day ? ' I asked. With a beauti- 
ful smile on her face, she said, ' It is all well with me 
to-da} r . I wish } t ou would speak to my father and 
mother.' — 'But,' said I, 'are you a Christian?' — 



A TOUCHING STORY. 241 

' Yes.' — ' When did you become one ? ' — 'Do you re- 
member last Thursday in the Tabernacle, when we had 
that little singing meeting, and you sung, " Jesus loves 
even me"?' 1 — "'Yes.' — 'It was last Thursday I 
believed on the Lord Jesus, and now I am going to be 
with him to-day.' 

" That testimony from that little child in that neg- 
lected quarter of Chicago has done more to stimulate 
me, and bring me to this country [Scotland], than all 
that the papers or any persons might say. I remember 
the joy I had in looking upon that beautiful face. She 
went up to heaven, and no doubt said she learned upon 
the earth that Jesus loved her, from that little hymn. 
If you want to enjoy a blessing, go to the bedsides of 
these bedridden and dying ones, and sing to them of 
Jesus, for they cannot enjoy these meetings as you do. 
You will get a great blessing to your own soul." 

When the conflagration in October, 1871, had swept 
away that section of Chicago where the two evangelists 
were laboring, Mr. Sankey returned to his home at New- 
castle ; but as soon as the rude Tabernacle was erected 
he came back, and, lodging in a small room in the build- 
ing, assisted Mr. Moody in supplying the wants of the 
destitute, and in carrying on the mission work in that 
quarter. It was at that period that the touching inci- 
dent just given occurred ; and by it Mr. Sankey's soul 

1 The words and music of this beautiful song are by the late lamented 
P. P. Bliss, killed by the railway accident at the bridge over the Ashta- 
bula River in Ohio, Dec. 29, 187G. . . 



242 LIFE OF IRA DAVID SANKEY. 

was moved to make a profounder consecration of its 
powers to the service of the Lord. He not only sung, 
but spoke and prayed, for the conversion of the people ; 
he selected Bible hymns or " spiritual songs " of ster- 
ling merit ; he adapted them to lively music, sometimes 
of his own composing ; he encouraged others to com- 
pose; he conducted meetings, leading in all the services 
himself ; and, during Mr. Moody's visit to England in 
the spring of 1872, he took charge of the work and 
worship at the Tabernacle. On his return Mr. Moody 
found him cherishing the same Biblical spirit which he 
himself had imbibed in England ; and they both, as fit- 
ting counterparts in sweet accordance, toiled together, 
comforting and reviving many churches. In the mean 
time Mr. Sankey, with remarkable good taste, was select- 
ing from the new stores of hymnology and revival tunes 
such spirited and popular pieces as would best pro- 
mote his evangelical work. In addition to the beautiful 
airs of Bradbury, Lowry, Main, Koot, Grape, Phillips, 
Doane, and Bliss, he composed many excellent tunes 
himself ; and with the fine lyrics of Annie S. Hawks, 
Fanny J. Crosby, Lydia Baxter, Prof. Gilmore, Ellen 
H. Gates, Anna Warner, Kate Hankey, Mrs. Bliss, and 
others, had, as it were, a stock of sacred songs adapted 
to almost every exigence. His voice, which is a rich 
baritone, was constantly gaining power, and no singer 
ever better than he knew how to suit his music to the 
time and the occasion. The composition of hymns he 
does not consider within his sphere ; yet u For me, for 



VISITS GREAT BRITAIN. 243 

me," the only one of his that has been published, indi- 
cates that he is endowed with poetical as well as musi- 
cal ability. Among his tunes, " The Ninety and Nine," 
to words of Miss E. C. Clephane, is perhaps the most 
popular. 

Mr. Sankey with his family accompanied Mr. Moody 
in his remarkable evangelistic tour through Great 
Britain, and assisted him materially in producing that 
grand awakening which filled all Christendom with 
surprise. It was feared at first that his new style of 
songs, his ' solo singing, and his melodeon, would meet 
with great opposition on the part of Christians, espe- 
cially in Scotland, where House's rough version of the 
Psalms and the plain old tunes had become so deeply 
imbedded in the hearts of the people. But the Ameri- 
can minstrel put so much of his soul and of the gos- 
pel into his song that he soon overcame all prejudice, 
and made himself the most popular sacred singer in 
the United Kingdom. In passing from Southampton 
through mid-England, in the summer of 1875, the 
writer was surprised, as well as delighted, to see the 
songs of Mr. Sankey in various forms for sale at almost 
every station, and to hear them sung by laborers and 
by children in the streets. America seemed to have 
filled the heart of England with her music. Of Mr. 
Sankey's service of song in Edinburgh, Dr. Thompson 
said, " Those who have come and heard have departed 
with their prejudices vanquished, and their hearts im- 
pressed." The Rev. Mr. Taylor also said, "As Mr. 



244 LIFE OF IBA DAVID SANKEY. 

Sankey proceeded to sing, we felt that it was real 
teaching. Not only was there his wonderful voice', 
which made every word distinctly heard in every cor- 
ner of the hall, and to which the organ accompaniment 
was felt to be merely subsidiary, but it was the scriptu- 
ral thought borne into the mind by the wave of song, 
and kept there till we were obliged to look at it and 
feel it in its importance and its preciousness." 

Mr. Sankey not only sang, but preached the gospel, 
conducting meetings, and, though not delivering ser- 
mons, inviting in simple and persuasive words the people 
to the cross of Jesus. While addressing a group of 
inquirers at Glasgow on everlasting life, and emphasiz- 
ing the word hath, a woman listening attentively ex- 
claimed, " That word hath has done it all," and went 
away rejoicing in the Lord. In Paisley he produced a 
profound impression by singing in his moving way 
"Nothing but Leaves, the Spirit grieves." At Perth 
the song, " Go work in My Vineyard," awakened the 
great congregation to labor more earnestly for the 
advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom. At Aber- 
deen he was assisted, as in many other places, by a 
most efficient choir of male and female voices, and his 
American melodies produced a wonderful effect. His 
songs met with special favor in the North of Scot- 
land, where it was supposed that the prejudice against 
them would be strongest. " In the remote Highland 
glen," says an interesting writer, " you may hear the 
sound of hymn-singing : shepherds on the steep hill- 



OPINION OF AN EDINBUEGH JOURNALIST. 245 

sides sing Mr. Sankey's hymns while tending their 
sheep ; errand-boys whistle the tunes as they walk 
along the streets of the Highland towns ; while in not 
a few of the lordly castles of the North, they express 
genuine feeling." 

The Daily Edinburgh Review thus spoke of the sing- 
ing of Mr. Sankey in Scotland : — 

"Why should there be any prejudice? For genera- 
tions most of the Highland ministers, and some of the 
Lowland ministers too, have sung the gospel, sung 
their sermons, ay, and sung their prayers too. The 
only difference is, that they sing very badly, and Mr. 
Sankey very beautifully. He accompanied himself on 
' the American organ,' it is true ; and some of us who 
belong to the old school can't swallow the ' kist of 
whustles' yet. It may help us over this stumbling- 
block if we consider, that, with the finest voice and ear 
in the world, nobody could maintain the proper pitch 
of a melody, singing so long as Mr. Sankey does. 
And then, ' the American organ ' is only a ( little one.' 
"When a deputation from the session waited on Ralph 
Erskine, to remonstrate with him on the enormity of 
fiddling, he gave them a beautiful tune on the violon- 
cello ; and they were so charmed that they returned to 
their constituents with the report that it was all right : 
'it was na' the wee, sinfu' fiddle that their minister 
operated upon, but a grand instrument, full of grave, 
sweet melody.' I'm afraid some good, true Presby- 
terians will be excusing Mr. Sankey's organ, and them- 
selves for listening to it, by some such plea as that." 



246 LIFE OF IRA DAVID SANKEY. 

Another wrote : " The admiration of Mr. Sankey's 
music is enthusiastic. When he sings a solo, a death- 
like silence reigns in the audience. When he ceases 
there is a rustling like the leaves of a forest when 
stirred by the wind. We might apply to him the 
language of Scripture, ' Lo ! thou art unto them as a 
very lovely song of one who hath a pleasant voice, and 
can play well on an instrument.' No one can estimate 
the service he has rendered to the Church of Christ by 
the compilation of his book of ' Sacred Songs,' and their 
sweet tunes. They are the delight of all ages. I have 
heard in Scotland that they are already sung in our 
most distant colonies. Ere long, I believe, they will 
be sung wherever the English language is spoken over 
the earth. Nor will they be confined to that language, 
for a lady is already translating them into German." 

In Belfast the newsboys cried out as they went on 
their daily rounds, " Hymn-books with songs sung at 
Moody and Sankey's meetings ! " and sold them in 
large numbers through the city. In Londonderry Mr. 
Sankey was so well sustained by the local choir, that 
his co-worker said he had never before heard such 
sweet music, adding, that he thought they should sing 
" new songs " as well as old ones, and that they could 
sing the gospel into many a man's heart. 

In Manchester a Mr. Cook, one evening at the Royal 
Theatre, sung in imitation of the popular song "He's a 
fraud," the words, — 

* ' We know that Moody and Sankey 

Are doing some good in their way," — 



THEATRE AND CIRCUS, LONDON. 247 

and received both cheers and hisses from the audience ; 
but, on repeating the words, the displeasure was so 
great that he was obliged to leave the stage. This 
testimony of theatre-going people even, in favor of the 
evangelists, was noticed in the morning papers, and the 
fact also that the song was not repeated. 

Public sentiment in favor of the evangelists was the 
same in Dublin. During the performance at the circus, 
on a certain evening, one clown said to another, "I'm 
rather moody to-night : how do you feel ? " To which 
the other answered, " I feel rather sanJeey-monioas." 
This was met with hisses, and the whole audience 
joined with grand effect in singing, — 

"Hold the fort, for I am coming, 
Jesus signals still; 
Wave the answer back to heaven, 
By thy grace we will." 

The greatest favorite at Birmingham was " Hold the 
Fort," by Mr. Bliss. The vast audiences joined in the 
stirring chorus, filling the Bingley Hall with rousing 
peals of sacred song. In London " The Ninety and 
Nine" and "Only an Armor-Bearer" appeared to 
afford the most delight; but other hymns, as, "Almost 
persuaded," and " The Prodigal Child," by Mrs. Ellen 
H. Gates, became immensely popular, and were daily 
heard in all quarters of the city. 

While in London, the Princess of Wales, the Duchess 
of Sutherland, and other distinguished personages, at-" 
tended the revival meetings, and united heartily in the 



248 LIFE OF IRA DAVID SANKEY. 

choruses of Mr. Sankey's songs. His singing here won 
many hearts, and his labors amongst the inquirers were, 
as usual, owned and blessed of God. The testimony of 
one young man is that of many : " I went," says he, 
"into the inquiry-room, and Mr. Sankey walked up and 
down with me, and talked with me as if he had been 
my own father ; and I found Christ." At the close of 
the meetings in Liverpool, Mr. Sankey sung as a 
farewell song, " Home, Sweet Home," with remarkable 
pathos, moving many in the audience to tears. 

Mr. Sankey gathered several new and beautiful 
hymns and tunes during his mission-tour abroad, with 
which he has since enriched his sacred song-books. He 
found the words of the song " Ninety and Nine," in 
" The Christian Age " of London, and immediately 
composed the music for them. They were written (as 
he afterwards ascertained through a letter from her 
sister) by Miss Elizabeth C. Clephane of Melrose, 
Scotland, a short time before the author's death, and 
were first published in Dr. Arnott's " Family Treasury," 
in 1868. The hymn commencing, — 

" Beneath the cross of Jesus 

I fain would take my stand," — 

for which Mr. Sankey also wrote the music, is by the 
same author. Soon after his return to America in 1875, 
Mr. Sankey published, in connection with Mr. P. P. Bliss, 
" Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs," of which an im- 
mense number of copies have been sold. It contains 



SINGING AT BROOKLYN. 249 

eight of his own musical compositions. At the Taber- 
nacle in Brooklyn, Mr. Sankey was supported by a well- 
trained choir of two hundred and fifty voices ; and the 
singing during the revival was remarkably good. The 
pieces sung were familiar to the people, and fears were 
entertained lest on this account the effect would not be 
as great as it had been across the sea ; but in this all 
were happily disappointed. One of the first hymns 
given out was, " Hark ! the Voice of Jesus crying ; " 
and, says a reporter, " as Mr. Sankey's magnetic voice 
and wonderfully expressive singing filled the great 
auditorium, the sympathy among his hearers grew and 
increased until it seemed as if, had he continued the 
sweet melody and earnest supplication, every person 
in the whole audience would have risen and joined 
with him in a grand musical prayer of mingled appeal 
and thanksgiving. The effect he produced was simply 
marvellous. Many responses, such as ' Amen ! ' and 
4 Glory to God ! ' were heard from all parts of the vast 
assembly ; and at the close a great many men, as well 
as women, were in tears. Mr. Sankey's voice is a 
marvel of sweetness, flexibility, and strength. There is 
a simplicity about his vocalism, that disarms the criti- 
cism that would apply to it any of the rules of art. It 
has a charm purely its own, which attracts and holds 
one with a power that is gentle but irresistible." In 
Philadelphia he had the assistance of a choir of five 
hundred singers under the leadership of Prof. Fischer, 
and rendered the same effective assistance as before to 



250 LIFE OF IE A DAVID SANKEY. 

Mr. Moody in his evangelical mission. His songs sunk 
into the hearts of the people, so that such questions as 
"Did you hear the 4 Ninety and Nine'?" "Isn't his 
singing better than a sermon ? " " Wasn't that hymn 
4 Nothing but Leaves ' impressive ? " as well as the 
singing of the songs themselves, were frequently heard 
along the streets of the city. 

The Rev. Dr. Sheppard said, " The first song I heard 
Mr. Sankey sing was, ' Jesus of Nazareth passeth by ; ' 
and it was the most eloquent sermon I ever heard. It 
spoke of the opportunity present, soon to pass, and 
actually past. It was most impressing and powerful." 

At a convention held near the close of his labors in 
Philadelphia, Mr. Sankey said, in respect to church 
music, — and his words are worthy of attention, " It 
should be conducted by a good large choir of Christian 
singers, who should encourage the congregation to join 
heartily with them in the songs of Zion, instead of 
monopolizing the service themselves. I would have 
the singers and the organ in front of the congregation, 
near the minister ; and would insist on deportment by 
the singers in keeping with the services of the house 
of God. The conduct of the choir during the service 
will have very much to do with the success of the 
preaching. Instead of whispering, writing notes, pass- 
ing books, and the like, the choir should give the 
closest attention to all the services, especially to the 
preaching of the word. There should be the most 
intimate relation between the leader of the singing and 



VIEWS OF CHURCH MUSIC. 251 

the pastor. Old familiar hymns and tunes should be 
used, and now and then a Sunday-school song ; so that 
the children may feel that they have a part in the 
prayer-meeting, as well as in the Sunday school. All 
should try to understand the sentiment of the hymn or 
sacred song, and enter into it with heart and voice, in 
a prayerful frame of mind, silently asking God to bless 
the song to every soul." 

During the meeting Mr. Sankey spoke of the pleasure 
he had received in hearing his songs sung in the capital 
of Switzerland, which he visited before returning to 
America, — and also on the railways in France, — add- 
ing that by God's grace he would keep on singing, 
and encourage others to sing those sweet stories of 
Jesus and his love. 

In respect to church psalmody, Mr. Sankey at another 
time said that music occupied a very prominent place 
in the Lord's work ; and that the choirs in the churches 
should consist of Christian people, and be led by a 
Christian chorister. 

If he could not find sufficient members among the 
congregation, he would go into the Sunday schools, 
where they would generally find the gospel songs sung 
more heartily than anywhere else. 

The ministers, also, should encourage the singers. 
Mr. Spurgeon, in London, never gives out a hymn 
without telling the people just how he would like it 
sung ; and the result is that the whole assemblage of 
people partake of his earnestness, and sing it with 
spirit. 



252 LIFE OF IRA DAVID SANKEY. 

Mr. Sankey hoped that he should be pardoned if he 
said that ministers did not make as much of the singing 
as they could. The singing, he thought, should be 
prayed for as much as the preaching. It has been an 
important part in the services in all ages. The choir 
should not be away in the back gallery. The singers 
should be near the minister, alongside the platform, so 
that he could be in accord with them. In churches 
there should not be two parties, one at one end, another 
at the opposite end of the church. 

He did not think there should be any people in the 
choir whose deportment would grieve the children of 
God. 

Mr. Sankey said he once heard a bishop preach, and 
during the whole service a young lady, a member of 
the choir, kept talking and writing notes to a young 
gentleman, which behavior so distracted his (Mr. 
Sankey's) attention that he did not know actually what 
the bishop was talking about. 

The man, he said, who leads, should go into the 
Sunday school and into the prayer-meetings. If he 
cannot do this, he will exercise no very marked influ- 
ence for good in the choir. In the Sunday school Mr. 
Sankey would have a little organ. 

He admired the large, the noble instrument ; but 
people did not sing so well with it as with the small 
one. When a large organ is being played, it drowns 
the voices, and people just sit and listen without sing- 
ing. A little organ will only give the singers the key- 



HIS SINGING AT NEW YORK. 253 

note. We do not, in fact, need any instrnmental music 
in the house of God : we only want the key-note. 

Then he would insist that the organist should play 
softly. He had a pretty strong voice, but the strength 
of some of the organs would effectually drown his 
voice. 

If there are any evangelistic services to be held in 
your midst, every minister, when he sends in lists of 
people for our choirs, should send in the very best. 
When the choir meets, let the exercises be commenced 
and closed with prayer. He believed four-fifths of the 
traditional trouble in choirs is because of the ungodly 
people composing them. 

He would not have a man get up and flourish a book 
or stick in leading. When practising, of course it 
might be admissible ; but, when we come to worship 
God, the less the display the better. 

Mr. Sankey concluded by touching upon the necessity 
of a correct pronunciation. 

" Owing to a careless reading, people do not under- 
stand the words as they are sung ; consequently they 
cannot take up the hymn and sing in unison with the 
choir. If the reading were better, there would be a 
great deal more interest manifested by the congrega- 
tions." 

At the Hippodrome in New York City, Mr. Sankey 
afforded Mr. Moody essential aid in conducting the 
long-extended services of the revival, adding to the 
interest of the meetings not unfrequently, by a pertinent 



254 LIFE OF IE A DAVID SANKEY. 

illustration or a story, as well as by his soul-moving 
songs. " His singing," said one of the religious jour- 
nals, " contributed much to the inspiration which ani- 
mated the services, and helped to draw the vast crowds 
which felt their influence. Every hymn was a gospel 
message ; and the tunes seemed not only to be made on 
purpose for the hymns, but the expression given to 
their spirit, and the articulation given to the words, 
were scarcely less than perfect." 

At the conclusion of his labors here he said in a large 
meeting, " I feel in my heart to-night a sad minor note 
sounding there, — one of sadness and regret that the 
meetings which have been so blessed are so soon, so 
far as we are concerned, to pass away; this is a sad 
thought and note in the song of my heart to-night : yet 
still there is a louder note, one of a joyful tone, telling 
me we shall meet again. I desire to say before giving 
way to others, that in all our work, both in this and 
other countries, we have never had more hearty, warm, 
and efficient help than we have had in New York in all 
the departments of our labor. We feel that each one, 
in whatever secluded place, has done his duty ; and my 
heart goes out to each of you with a hearty ; God bless 
you!'" 

After the close of this campaign, Mr. Sankey's health 
became somewhat impaired : yet feeling the need of new 
hymns and music, he engaged zealously with his friend 
Mr. P. P. Bliss in the preparation of " Gospel Hymns 
No. 2," which contains twelve of his own tunes, to- 



SINGING IN BOSTON. 255 

gether with some by Messrs. Bliss, Doane, Root, Vail, 
Perkins, Lowiy, Phillips, Main, Bradbury, and others, 
and which is now used at the Tabernacle in Boston. 

In the midst of his arduous labors in the city of 
Chicago, Mr. Sankey was suddenly called to mourn the 
death of Mr. and Mrs. Bliss, with whom he had been 
so long associated in the sweet service of song. The 
assurance only, that through Christ they should beyond 
the river sing a sweeter strain in company, could assuage 
his grief. 

At the opening of the Tabernacle for the renowned 
evangelists in Boston, on the 28th of January, 1877, the 
expectation in regard to the singing of Mr. Sankey was 
very great ; as this city is noted for its knowledge and* 
its love of music. Will Mr. Sankey 's simple melodies, 
his unartistic style of singing, satisfy the public taste ? 
Will the efforts of the Western vocalist with his melo- 
deon be appreciated ? The desire to listen to his songs 
was perhaps as strong as that of hearing the distin- 
guished preacher. 

The services opened, and the minstrel who had charmed 
so many audiences, both in the Old World and the New, 
came in and modestly took his seat beside his little 
instrument on the platform. The hymn commencing, 
u There were ninety and nine that safely lay," being 
then announced, he arose, and in a clear, distinct voice 
made the following supplication for a blessing upon 
sacred song : — 

"Our heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord 



256 LIFE OF IRA DAVID SANKEY. 

Jesus we come to thee at this moment, asking that thy 
blessing may rest upon the singing that has already 
been done, and shall be done, in this great Tabernacle. 
Bless, we pray thee, the message of thy love as found 
in these songs. And we pray, our Father, that thou 
wouldst bless the singers who have just come here, and 
will come day after day, to lift up the voice of praise 
unto thee. And as in days of old, when singers were 
wont to make a joyful noise unto the Lord, do thou 
meet with thy people in this temple dedicated to thy 
service. And, our Father, shall we not ask that ere 
long we may even see the prodigals being brought 
home by the Good Shepherd himself ; having wandered 
far away from thee, they will hear that ringing voice of 
thine, and say, 'I will arise and go to my Father.' 
Lord Jesus, bless us now in all that we shall do here, 
and we will give thee the praise for evermore. Amen." 
He then in tones of remarkable sweetness sung the 
celebrated song, enchaining the attention of the great 
assemblage, and convincing all, that, though he might 
not satisfy the high demands of art, he had the power 
to send his voice into the soul, and touch the secret 
chords of its most profound devotion. This indeed is 
something higher than art, and captivates when art is 
powerless. It is not so much by the force, as by the 
peculiar timbre, the searching quality of his voice, that 
Mr. Sankey produces such effect. Many of his songs, 
as rendered by very accomplished vocalists, are power- 
less to move the heart. People hear them thus per- 



TACT AND POWER. 257 

formed in the social circle, and wonder how and why 
they ever make such marked impressions. The reason 
may be that Mr. Sankey sends by an intense sympathy, 
and by tones peculiarly his own, the sentiment of the 
song into the hearer's soul. His objective point is the 
conversion or the sanctification of that soul ; the list- 
ener then, forgetting the singer and the song, turns his 
thought inward to himself, and the truth as it is in 
Jesus wakens the emotions. To know the power of 
Mr. Sankey's songs, the only sure way is to hear him. 
He may well be called the Dempster of sacred song. 
His voice, especially in the middle notes, has a pecu- 
liar sympathetic sweetness that steals into the heart, 
and mysteriously unlocks the fountain of tears. He 
reveals, as none others can, the sentiment of his hymn, 
and, enunciating every word and syllable with remarka- 
ble distinctness, makes himself heard with ease in the 
remotest parts of the very largest audience-chamber. 
He has also the tact of adapting every song to the 
subject-matter of the speaker, or to the peculiar mood 
of the congregation, so as to produce the best effect. 
Sometimes a doubt arises whether he or Mr. Moody 
draws the greater number to the Tabernacle : certain 
it is, that neither would succeed so well alone. Per- 
sons of a delicate, sensitive, and emotional temperament 
would undoubtedly prefer the singer ; those who love 
to hear plain truths enunciated fearlessly would prefer 
the preacher: yet, as the public is made up of both 
these classes, it finds that in the union of the two 
evangelists its spiritual demands are satisfied. 



258 LIFE OF ERA DAVID SANKEY. 

"Mr. Moody," says The Inter-Ocean, "startles us 
and arouses us, while Mr. Sankey soothes and com- 
forts. Mr. Moody, earnest as he is, succeeds without 
the grace of voice and manner : Mr. Sankey, earnest as 
he is, succeeds because of grace in voice and manner. 
He is well fitted to be Mr. Mood}^'s companion, and 
those who hear him do not wonder at his continued 
success in this peculiar field." 

" Mr. Sankey," says Mrs. Barbour truthfully as well 
as beautifully, " sings with the conviction that souls are 
receiving Jesus between one note and the next. The 
stillness is overawing ; some of the lines are more 
spoken than sung. The hymns are equally used for 
awakening, and none more so than ' Jesus of Nazareth 
passeth b}~.' When you hear 4 The Ninety and Nine ' 
sung, you know of a truth that down in this corner, up 
in that gallery, behind that pillar which hides the 
singer's face from the listener, the hand of Jesus has 
been finding this and that and yonder lost one, to place 
them in his fold. A certain class of hearers come to 
the services solely to hear Mr. Sankey, and the song 
throws the Lord's net around them." 

Sustained by the efficient choir of Dr. Tourjee, this 
gifted singer, criticise him as we may, continues to 
perform admirably his part in the varied exercises of 
the Tabernacle. The great congregation listens with 
ever-fresh delight to his well-rendered songs, " I need 
Thee every Hour," "Hallelujah, 'tis done," "Where 
are the Nine ? " " Hold the Fort, for I am coming," 



ADDRESS BY MR. CAVERLY. 259 

" Waiting and Watching," " Have You on the Lord 
believed?" " Go bury thy Sorrow," "Pull for the 
Shore," and others of a world-wide reputation, and 
always joins with united and exultant voices in the 
chorus. 

Mr. Sankey has a pleasing personal appearance. 
Though not as large as Mr. Moody, he excels him 
both as to symmetry in form and grace in manner. 
His hair and eyes are dark ; his countenance is open, 
genial, expressive, and sometimes, when he is engaged 
in singing, radiant with joy. The artist has in the 
accompanying portrait presented truthfully and to the 
life the features of this charming vocalist, and the auto- 
graph is copied from a letter in my possession. 

Without the force, mental or physical, of his fellow- 
laborer, Mr. Sankey has more of personal beauty, more 
of culture, and also of that natural suavity which wins 
the hearts of all who know him. 

May his life be long continued, and his tongue, tuned 
to still loftier notes of praise, call, by the power of con- 
secrated song, yet mightier throngs of people to rejoice 
in God their Saviour ! 

The following lines addressed to him were sent to 
me by the author for this work : — 



Sing on, minstrel, heavenward bearing; 

Music moves the world from sin; 
Onward, then, God's truth declaring; 

Faith and works are bound to win, — 



260 LIFE OF IRA DAVID SANKEY. 

Bound to wiu in every contest, 

Though the odds be ne'er so strong ; 

Truth the firmest, hope the fondest, 
Cheer thee in thy " gospel song." 

Drones can never rise to glory, 

Doomed to perish in the strife ; 
God ordains it, true the story, 

' Workers reap the joys of life.' 

Sing, then, songs new, sweet, and holy ; 

Lure the world away from sin ; 
Lift the burdens from the lowly ; 

Upward, onward, work and win. ,, 

Robert B. Caverly. 



A SKETCH OF THE LIVES 



OF 



MR. P. P. BLISS AND DR. EBEN TOURJEE. 



LIFE OF P. P. BLISS. 

THE BIRTH AND EDUCATION OF ME. BLISS. — HIS MUSIC, WORK, 
AND DEATH. —DR. EBEN TOURJEE. 

Birth of Mr. Bliss. — Early Taste for Music. — His Disposition. —Comes 
to Chicago. — His Wife's Influence over him. — He conducts Musical 
Institutes. — Effect of his Singing on Mr. Moody. — At a Sunday- 
School Convention. — His Publications. — His Connection with Major 
Whittle. — A Notice of one of their Meetings. — A Letter. — "The 
Gospel Songs." — Style of the Music. — Sources of his Hymns. — 
" Lower Lights." — "I am so glad." — " Life-Boat." — " More to fol- 
low."— "Meet me at the Fountain." — Effects of his Music. — An 
Incident. — His Mission. — Mrs. Bliss. — The Royalty on " The Gos- 
pel Hymns and Sacred Songs." — " Gospel Hymns No. 2." — "Wait- 
ing and Watching." — Singing at Chautauqua. — Remarks on Church 
Music. — A Letter. — A Prophecy. — Disaster at Ashtabula Bridge. — 
Death of Mr. and Mrs. Bliss. —Telegrams. —Letter of Condolence. — 
Memorial Services at Chicago. — Boston. — Notice from " The Trib- 
une."— Mrs. Bliss. — Personal Traits of Mr. Bliss. — His Monument. 
— Birth of Dr. Tourjee. — Education. — His Praise-Meetings. — 
Conservatory. — Character. 

" Sing unto the Lord a new song. " — DAVH>. 
" Sing on your heavenly way, 
Ye ransomed sinners, sing ; 
Sing on, rejoicing every day 
In Christ, the heavenly King." — WILLIAM HAMMOND. 
" Sing of Jesus, sing forever, 
Of the love that changes never : 
Who or what from him can sever 
Those he makes his own ? " — Thomas Kelly. 

The songs of Mr. P. P. Bliss are sung by millions. 
They are joyous, bright, and hopeful, indicating thus the 

263 



264 LIFE OF MR. P. P. BLISS. 

spirit of the man. Like his name, his life was brief and 
beautiful. His record is romantic, yet from it many 
salutary lessons may be drawn. He was born in the 
little town of Rome, near Towanda, Penn., on the ninth 
day of July, 1838. His parents were very poor ; and 
their only son was early inured to labor, which, instead 
of injuring, tended to develop both his physical and men- 
tal constitution. In his boyhood he evinced a love of 
music, but had then no opportunities to study it as an 
art. He, however, remembered well the sabbath-school 
and martial songs that met his ear, and often amused 
himself and others by singing and whistling them at 
his work. He had, as it was said, a good ear for music, 
and, what is better, a bright and genial turn of mind. 
He was, though penniless, a light-hearted, merry, and 
obliging boy, — well formed, well behaved, and well 
beloved. As he advanced in age his voice became more 
sweet and powerful. He led the music in the sabbath 
school, and sought, as he was able, for improvement in 
the "art divine." On coming to Chicago in 1864, he 
was fortunate in making the acquaintance of the distin- 
guished musical composer Mr. George F. Root, and in 
coming under his instruction. Entering into the em- 
ployment of the firm of Messrs. Root and Cady, music- 
publishers, he found means to gratify his passion for 
song, and soon learned, as Mr. Sankey, how to play 
accompaniments on the melodeon to his voice. He 
began to compose simple songs for the sabbath school, 
and to arrest the attention of the public by his spirited 



HIS MAEEIAGE. 265 

rendering of the popular tunes of Messrs. Root and 
Bradbury, which were making then a new departure in 
the field of sacred melody. He had a charming voice, 
a joyous temper, and his services for sabbath-school 
and musical conventions gradually came to be in great 
demand. On his marriage to Miss Lucy J. Young of 
Rome, Penn., a lady of fine poetical as well as musical 
taste, he received a fresh incentive to pursue the study 
of sacred song. Through her influence he became a 
Christian ; and by her his culture of music and of lyric- 
al poetry was encouraged and advanced. He became a 
member of Dr. E. P. Goodwin's church, in which he was 
in 1870 appointed chorister, and subsequently superin- 
tendent of the sabbath school. While in this capacity 
he composed many of those beautiful hymns and tunes 
now sung with gladness by so many millions both at 
home and across the sea. When Mr. Bliss had gained 
sufficient knowledge of his favorite art, he began with 
his wife, who was a charming singer as well as writer, 
to hold normal musical institutes through the towns 
and cities of the great North-west, by which he for 
several years did much towards raising the standard 
of taste both as to secular and sacred music in that 
region. He also became very popular as a singer in 
Chicago, and received merited applause in carrying the 
bass solos in the grand oratorios of the " Creation" and 
of " Elijah." But his favorite work was in connection 
with the sabbath schools, young men's conventions, and 
evangelism. 



266 LIFE OF ME. P. P. BLISS. 

It was the hearing of the magnificent voice of Mr. 
Bliss in Farwell Hall that gave Mr. Moody his idea of 
engaging a " gospel singer " to aid him in his revival 
work. He took Mr. Sankey with him to England, 
because Mr. Bliss had shown him how glorious it is to 
sing the praises of the Lord. 

During the time of the great Sunday-school awaken- 
ing in Illinois, Mr. Edward Eggleston went out to 
hold a convention in a certain town, and was much dis- 
couraged to find but a very few people present. The 
services went on heavily for an hour or so, when it 
was announced to him that Mr. Bliss and his wife had 
arrived in town. 

"Who is Bliss?" said he. 

" A music-teacher who is travelling for Root and 
Cady." 

" Bring him in." 

In a short time Mr. Bliss appeared, and said that he 
would sing if he could have his melodeon to assist him. 
It was a United Presbyterian Church ; and the minister 
said to Mr. Eggleston, " I cannot give you permission 
to introduce a melodeon, but we have lent to you the 
church for a convention. If you introduce a melodeon 
I am not responsible." 

The instrument was brought in, and Mr. Bliss and his 
wife with her fine contralto voice engaged in singing. 
" And such singing ! " says Mr. Eggleston. " Instead 
of some poor country singing-master, beating out his 
music as with a flail, I soon found that here was a man 



HIS PUBLICATIONS. 267 

with one of the richest voices in the world, capable of 
putting his own strong spirit into all he sung. He 
made us forget our Tate and Brady ; he sung us into 
a state of delight, and I saw tears running down the 
cheeks of the United Presbyterian minister." The 
house was overcrowded in the evening, and so Mr. 
Bliss turned what else had been a defeat into a victory. 
The first Sunday-school music of Mr. Bliss appeared 
in Mr. George F. Root's little work entitled " The 
Prize," which was published in 1870. " Whosoever 
will," and " Look and Live," with their animated 
choruses, soon became familiar to the members of the 
sabbath schools throughout the country. Encouraged 
by this success, he published himself, in 1871, " The 
Charm," whose very title indicates the effect which it 
produced wherever it was used. In the year ensuing 
he brought out " The Song Tree," indicating in the 
preface, formed of an acrostic, the design for which the 
work was published. 

" Sing away dreariness, 

Tree of my love ; 
Oh, and to weariness 

Rest may'st thou prove ; 
Nobly endeavor 

The erring to win, 
Guarding forever 

From evil and sin." 

He next published for the use of sabbath schools, 
" Sunshine," the title itself showing the spirit in 



268 LIFE OF ME. P. P. BLISS. 

which it was composed ; and then another work entitled 
" The Joy," containing mnsic of a higher style. 

In the spring of 1874 his friend Major D. W. 
Whittle, knowing his remarkable power to " sing the 
gospel," invited him to leave his musical institutes and 
singing schools, and devote himself entirely to evan- 
gelism. He accepted the invitation, and engaged heart 
and soul with him in the self-denying work, trusting, as 
Messrs. Moody and Sankey, in the Lord alone for his 
support. They held successful meetings in various 
cities as far south as Mobile, Ala., and as far north as 
Minneapolis, Minn., proving that in the union of music, 
prayer, and exhortation, there is strength. One of 
their notices will indicate their method in evangeliz- 
ing : — 

" Week of prayer. Major Whittle will preach the 
gospel, and P. P. Bliss will sing the gospel, this 
Wednesday evening, Jan. 6, at Union Park Congrega- 
tional Church, Ashland Avenue, opposite the Park. 
Seats free ; all invited ; further appointment. t He 
hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the 
world in righteousness by that man [Jesus Christ] 
whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath given assur- 
ance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the 
dead' [Acts xvii. 81]. Friend, are you ready to meet 
this appointment ? There can be no postponement." 

In the summer of 1874 he wrote to a friend, " Major 
Whittle and I are holding protracted meetings. God is 
wonderfully using us in every way. Help us to praise 



"LOWER LIGHTS." 269 

him for it. I am preparing a book of ' Gospel Songs ' 
for our special use, and would be right glad to have 
you send a list of hymns and tunes which have been 
most successful in your experience. And, above all, 
pray for the book. All the good in the book must 
come from God." This book was published the same 
year at Cincinnati, and contains as many as fifty-two of 
his own compositions, among which, " Jesus of Nazareth 
passeth by," " I am so glad that Jesus loves me," 
" Only an Armor-Bearer," " More to follow," " Let the 
Lower Lights be burning," " Almost persuaded," 
"Daniel's Band," "Pull for the Shore," "Hold the 
Fort," " Go bury thy Sorrow," " Meet me at the Foun- 
tain," and " Roll on, O Billow of Fire," have become 
famous both in England and America. The music of 
these hymns is well adapted to the words, written in 
some instances by Mr. Bliss himself; and although it 
evinces not much of originality, consisting as it does 
of ideas and phrases long familiar to the ear, it still is 
sprightly, buoyant, as the soul of its composer, and 
reaches into the innermost chambers of the heart. It 
is national, and will doubtless live for many years to 
cheer the sorrowing, and to aid in the dissemination of 
the seeds of truth. No American music is known so 
well in Great Britain as that of Mr. Bliss. Many of 
the hymns of Mr. Bliss are founded on some striking 
incident, and hence are true to life experience. 

" Let the Lower Lights be burning," was suggested 
by a shipwreck thus graphically described by Mr. D. L. 



270 LIFE OF MR. P. P. BLISS. 

Moody : " On a dark, stormy night when the waves 
rolled like mountains, and not a star was to be seen, a 
boat, rocking and plunging, n eared the Cleveland 
Harbor. 

" « Are you sure this is Cleveland ? ' asked the cap- 
tain, seeing only one light from the light-house. 

" ' Quite sure, sir,' replied the pilot. 

" 4 Where are the lower lights ? ' 

" ; Gone out, sir.' 

" ' Can you make the harbor ? ' 

" ' We must, or perish, sir.' 

" And with a strong hand and a brave heart the old 
pilot turned the wheel. But alas ! in the darkness he 
missed the channel, and with a crash upon the rocks 
the boat was shivered, and many a life lost in a watery 
grave. Brethren, the Master will take care of the 
great light-house. Let us keep the lower lights burn- 
ing." 

The very beautiful song, " I am so glad that our 
Father in Heaven," was suggested to Mr. Bliss by the 
refrain, " Oh, how I love Jesus ! " 

" I have sung long enough," said he to himself one 
day, " my poor love for Christ, and now I will sing of 
his love for me." He then wrote in his very best style, 
his soul being rilled with sacred emotion, the words 
and music of this favorite piece. The effect of this 
song in Scotland was electrical ; and it still is sung by 
high and low, from Solway Frith to John O'Groat's. 

The effective lyric, "Roll on, O Billow of Fire!" 



" LIFE-BOAT." 271 

written and set to music by himself, and dedicated to 
Mr. D. L. Moody, is a graphic description of the burn- 
ing of Chicago : — 

" Hark, the alarm! the clang of the bells! 
Signal of danger, it rises and swells ; 
Flashes like lightning illumine the sky; 
See the red glare as the names mount on high. 
Roll on, roll on, O billow of fire! 
Dash with thy fiery waves higher and higher: 
Ours is a mansion abiding and sure, 
Ours is a kingdom eternal, secure." 

Both in the words and the music Mr. Bliss presents 
most vividly the picture of that dreadful conflagration, 
and then beautifully contrasts the insecurity of our 
earthly habitations with the permanence of our celestial 
home. Had he written only this spirited song, his 
memory would have been long cherished by the lovers 
of sacred melody. 

The stirring song of the life-boat, commencing, 
" Light in the darkness, sailor : day is at hand," and of 
which Mr. Bliss wrote both the words and music, was 
suggested by the following graphic description of a 
shipwreck : — 

" We watched the wreck with great anxiety. The 
life-boat had been out some hours, but could not reach 
the vessel through the great breakers that raged and 
foamed on the sand-bank. The boat appeared to be 
leaving the crew to perish ; but in a few minutes the 
captain and sixteen sailors were taken off, and the ves- 
sel went down. 



272 LIFE OF ME. P. P. BLISS. 

« i "When the life-boat came to you, did you expect it 
had brought some tools to repair your old ship ? ' said I. 
— ' Oh, no ! she was a total wreck. Two of her masts 
were gone, and if we had staid mending her, only a 
few minutes, we must have gone down, sir.' — ' When 
once off the old wreck, and safe in the life-boat, what 
remained for you to do ? ' — ' Nothing, sir, but just to 
pull for the shore.' " 

Spiritualizing this incident, Mr. Bliss brought forth 
in a moment of musical and poetical inspiration, his 
effective song, which with its spirited chorus, — 

" Pull for the shore, sailor, pull for the shore : 
Heed not the rolling waves, but bend to the oar ; 
Safe in the life-boat, sailor, cling to self no more : 
Leave the poor old stranded wreck, and pull for the shore," — 

now goes echoing round the world. Charles Dibdin 
wrote nine hundred songs, the most of them pertaining 
to the sea, but none with the Christian ring of this by 
Mr. Bliss. And sweet it was to hear, on a passage 
from Liverpool to New York, its cheering notes pealing 
the tongues of sailors over the deep. 

The beautiful song " More to follow," of which he 
composed both the words and music, was founded on 
the following incident related by his friend D. L. 
Moody in one of his stirring addresses : — 

" A vast fortune was left in the hands of a minister 
for one of his poor parishioners. Fearing that it might 
be squandered if suddenly bestowed upon him, the 



EFFECTS OF HIS MUSIC. 273 

wise minister sent him a little at a time with" a note 
saying, 4 This is thine ; use it wisely : there is more to 
follow.' Brethren, that's just the way the Lord deals 
with us." 

The idea is beautifully spiritualized in the words of 
the song : — 

' ' Have you on the Lord believed ? 
Still there's more to follow. 
Of his grace have you received ? 
Still there's more to follow." 

And the tune in sextuple time finely expresses the hope 
of the Christian for blessings yet to come. 

The charming song, with its effective chorus, — 

1 ' Will you meet me at the fountain, 
When I reach the glory-land ? " — 

was suggested to him by the common invitation at one 
of the Expositions. 

How many souls the precious songs of Mr. Bliss, 
through Christ, have turned and will still turn away 
from sin ; how many burdened hearts they have most 
sweetly comforted, and still will comfort, — never can 
be known till the grand harvest-home. It is one of the 
tenderest tokens of our heavenly Father's love, to send 
into this world such harbingers of the felicity of the 
land of song beyond the river. To cite the instances of 
the salutary effects of the delightful strains of Mr. Bliss 
would fill a volume. Such as these are every day 
occurring : A man had organized a Sunday school in 



274 LIFE OF MR. P. P. BLISS. 

Missouri. He sung to the little company one day the 
hopeful song of Mr. Bliss, " I am so glad that Jesus 
loves me," and then put the question, " Are you glad 
that Jesus loves you ? " ^ 

A young man, rising instantly, came and threw his 
arms around the singer's neck, and sobbing said, " You 
must not go away till I am a Christian." Prayer was 
offered, when he exclaimed, " Oh that song ! I could 
not get away from it, and it has saved me ! " 

What if his music does not meet the demands of art ? 
It surely meets the wants of the overburdened and 
the sorrowful; it moves the hearts of the multitudes 
to a higher life ; and this, I apprehend, is the grand 
design of song. Mr. Bliss had the genius to give the 
people what they wanted, what they needed ; and so 
performed a glorious mission. 

Mrs. Bliss wrote the hymns, " "We are marching 
to Canaan with Banner and Song," and " I will love 
Jesus, and serve Him," under the assumed name of 
" Paulina ; " she also composed the music for the latter, 
as well as the fine air for the " Rock of Ages." 

In 1875 Mr. Bliss published, in conjunction with his 
friend Ira D. Sankey, " The Gospel Hymns and Sacred 
Songs," which were used in the revival work at Brook- 
lyn, New York, and Philadelphia. An immense num- 
ber of copies was sold ; but the royalty thereon, 
amounting to about sixty thousand dollars, was by the 
compilers devoted to charitable purposes. On being 
urged by Mr. Moody to reserve at least five thousand 



" GOSPEL HYMNS NO. 2." 275 

dollars for himself and family, Mr. Bliss replied, " It 
must all go for the advancement of the work of the 
Lord." This book has been in part translated into the 
Chinese language ; and some of the hymns, as, " Hold 
the Fort," are sung in several of the other Pagan 
nations. The beautiful hymn by Mrs. Bliss, " We're 
going Home To-morrow," for which her husband wrote 
the music, appears in this collection. 

" The Gospel Hymns No. 2," compiled by Messrs. 
Bliss and Sankey, who fed, as it were, on angels' food 
while working over it, was just completed when Mr. 
Bliss and wife were called to leave their labors here 
for the great song-world above. It contains one h}"mn, 
" Hold fast till I come," by Mrs. Bliss ; and the tune 
is the last one written by her husband. Mr. Bliss was 
noted for his gentleness, humility, and fervent piety. His 
heart was a fountain of good-nature and of spiritual joy. 
He was wont to pray over his music, and seemed never 
so happy as when it was moving the souls of men to 
come to Jesus. His prayer in verse was, — 

" More purity give me, — 

More strength to o'ercome, 
More freedom from earth-stains, 
More longings for home. ' ' 

To one writing to him in respect to " Waiting and 
Watching for me," for which he composed the music, 
he replied, " No, I don't seem to rest much in the 
hope of seeing a throng of heavenly ones waiting and 



276 LIFE OF ME. P. P. BLISS. 

watching for me. They might be in better business. 
Nor of hearing echoes of my songs there. I want 
something better. The best things about heaven, it 
seems to me, will be eternal freedom from sin, and the 
immediate presence of Jesus-. 

' There we shall see his face, 
And never, never sin.' " 

Mrs. Bliss was an estimable lady, well educated, and 
always ready to assist her husband in his studies and 
his Christian work. They were most happy in their 
union, as well as in their children, and their modest 
home which they appropriately called " The Cottage of 
Content." 

" I think the last time I joined in song with them," 
says Mr. W. F. Sherwin in " The Christian Union," 
" we were under the grand old trees at Chautauqua. 
A sister of Mr. Bliss (a soprano), with Mr. and Mrs. 
Bliss and myself, made up the quartet. They were 
about leaving. We turned to his song, ' Meet me at 
the Fountain,' and Mr. Bliss sung with unusual sweet- 
ness the solo, — 

4 Will you meet me at the fountain, 
"When I reach the glory-land ? ' 

And we together responded for the last time, — 

1 Yes, we'll meet you at the fountain.' 

The emotions were too deep for utterance, while with 
uncovered, heads we bowed at the rustic seat, and Mr. 



EEMAEKS ON CHUECH MUSIC. 277 

Bliss offered a fervent but peculiarly sweet and tender 
prayer, that, if we should not stand to sing again on the 
banks of the beautiful lake * which shimmered in the 
sunlight before us, we might meet ' beyond the river, 
by and by.' " 

*At one of the Sunday-school meetings held in Chau- 
tauqua, at which there was an audience of three thou- 
sand persons, he sung his beautiful heart-song, — 

" Almost persuaded now to believe, 
Almost persuaded Christ to receive," — 

with such effect that the profound silence which ensued 
was broken only by the sobbing which arose from 
various parts of the assembly. 

At " The Sunday-school Parliament " held on Welles- 
ley Island in the St. Lawrence River, in 1876, Mr. 
Bliss justly said respecting church music, " That which 
ought to have the greatest emphasis just now, in regard 
to sacred music, is the need of greater reverence. 
"While a song is being sung, people will pass up a 
church aisle or a Sunday-school aisle, whisper to each 
other, move about the room, distribute or collect 
library-books, put on overcoats, or do a score of other 

1 Chautauqua Lake is a fair expanse of water, eighteen miles long, 
and from one to three miles wide, in the south-west extremity of the 
State of New York. It is ahout seven hundred and thirty feet ahove 
Lake Erie, and is said to be the highest navigable sheet of water on this 
continent. The name signifies in the Indian language, " a misty place," 
in allusion to the fogs by which, from its elevated situation, it is often 
covered. It is about five miles distant from Lake Erie. 



278 LITE OF ME. P. P. BLISS. 

things that one would never think of doing during 
any other kind of prayer. When we are offering praise 
or prayer to God in metre, as much as if we were doing 
it upon our knees, a reverence of manner and of spirit 
should accompany it. Another thing to be enforced in 
connection with singing is a greater thoughtful ness* in 
regard to the meaning of what we sing. Are the words 
prayer, or praise ? Let appropriate thought, as well as 
appropriate melody, accompany the words." 

The following letter, showing the anxiety of Mr. 
Bliss for his unconverted friends, was written by him 
to a business man in Chicago whose death had been 
erroneously reported : — 

Kalamazoo, Mich., Nov. 7. 

" Bear Friend, — About a year ago I wrote you a 
personal letter about good things, urging upon your 
attention what you must know is the most important 
business in the world, — eternal life. We have been 
praying for you ever since ; and I believe that in your 
good-will toward me, you will not be offended if I 
venture one more letter from my heart. I admire your 
kindness of heart, and want to thank you for your 
favors to us. I love you as a brother ; and, having no 
brother of my own, wish I could have you in every thing 
to commune with. 

" Isn't it business wisdom to lay up abiding riches in 
the other world, where we must so soon appear ? Is it 
the fair and honest thing not to confess one's faith in 
Him who has done so much for us ? Pardon me if 



A PROPHECY. 279 

disagreeable ; but, dear brother, when I read of your 

death in the papers last spring, I wished I had done 

more to bring you to Christ, my blessed Master. Will 

you be a follower of Jesus ? 

" Do not feel obliged to answer this to me. I have 

prayed the Lord to follow it with his Spirit, and lead 

you to answer it to him, as you will be glad through 

all eternity. 

" Your loving brother, P. P. B." 

It had been arranged that on the departure of Messrs. 
Moody and Sankey, Major Whittle and Mr. Bliss should 
carry on the evangelism at the Tabernacle in Chicago ; 
but this was by a most terrible accident prevented. 
The last time Mr. Bliss sung at the Moody and Sankey 
meetings there, he said, — as it afterwards appeared 
almost prophetically, — "I don't know as I shall ever 
sing here again ; but I want to sing this as the language 
of my heart, — 

1 I know not the hour my Lord will come, 
To take me away to his own dear home ; 
But I know that his presence will lighten the gloom, 
And that will he glory for me.' " 

With Mrs. Bliss he went to Towanda, on the Sus- 
quehanna River in Pennsylvania, to spend Christmas 
with his mother. On Thursday, the 28th of December, 
he with his wife bade their relatives and friends at 
Towanda and Rome farewell, and started for Chicago. 
The engine breaking caused them to take a later train, 



280 LIFE OF ME. P. P. BLISS. 

on board of which Mr. Bliss was observed to be 
engaged in composing, with the Bible and a pencilin 
his hand, a piece of music. When the train with its 
two engines, on the evening of Friday the 29th, and 
in the midst of a terrible snowstorm, was crossing the 
Ashtabula bridge 1 between Erie and Cleveland, the 
iron structure and the cars upon it fell with a horrid 
crash, some seventy feet or more, into the stream below. 

The passengers were in an instant buried in the 
dreadful wreck, to perish by the concussion or the 
flames which in a few moments left but a mass of black 
and smouldering ruins in the stream. A few of the 
people escaped, but the bodies of the most of them 
were so consumed that it was not possible to identify 
the remains. It is said that Mr. Bliss rose from the 
ruins, but returning to extricate his wife shared her 
untimely fate. The news of the death of these be- 
loved singers brought sincere grief to every Christian 
heart. 

The following telegram was sent from Philadel- 
phia : — 

" Philadelphia, Jan. 1. 

" Moody akd Sankey, — The brethren of the East 
send tenderest sympathies in overwhelming bereave- 

1 This iron-truss bridge over the Ashtabula Creek, near its entrance 
into Lake Erie, was, like the old Pemberton Mill at Lawrence, Mass., 
but a mere trap for the destruction of human life. The weakness of 
both these sham structures was pointed out in the beginning by the 
architects ; but such is the greed for gain, that the public safety is know- 
ingly, constantly and shamefully compromised for the almighty dollar. 



LETTER OF CONDOLENCE. 281 

ment of our beloved brethren. Bliss and wife. ' Only 
remembered by what I have done.' Sudden death, 
sudden glory. 

" Stuart, Wannamaker, and Needham." 

The next day Mr. Moody received this sad intelli- 
gence from Mr. H. W. Stager of Cleveland : — 

" Ashtabula, Jan. 2. 

" The last hope is gone of finding any thing of our 
dear friends Bliss and wife. Every thing has been done 
that human power can do. There is no other conclu- 
sion to be reached, but that all in that car were entirely 
consumed. I have found nothing but a hand and a few 
fragments of bodies to-day, but quite a number of arti- 
cles of wearing-apparel, both male and female, quite a 
number of which have been identified by friends, but 
none by Major Whittle as belonging to Mr. Bliss or 
wife. 

" To-morrow will probably end one of the saddest 
tasks it has been my lot to perform, or to be imagined." 

The following tender letter of condolence, expressing 
the deep sympathy of Christians in Chicago, was for- 
warded to the widowed mother of Mr. Bliss : — 

Chicago, Jan. 3. 
Mrs. Bliss. Dear Madam, — As the representatives of thou- 
sands of Christian people in this city and its immediate vicinity, 
permit us to express to you the affectionate and prayerful sympa- 
thy with which all our hearts gather about you in this sad hour. 



282 LIFE OF MR. P. P. BLISS. 

We feel painfully how inadequate the most loving of human 
words are to lift or lighten the burden of such a grief. We do not 
seek to do this : rather we commend you afresh, as we have done 
already in our homes, our prayer gatherings, our sabbath services, 
to Him who is a refuge from the storm, a covert from the tempest, 
and whose divine pledge is that none of them that trust in Him 
shall be desolate. But we have thought that among the tributes to 
this beloved son's character and work upon which your thought will 
love to linger, it would be pleasant to you to have a word of testi- 
mony as to how dear he had become to us. We feel this affliction 
to be peculiarly personal to us and to those whom we represent. 
The songs of this dear brother are in many of our churches, our 
Sunday schools, our homes : and they are there as among the most 
precious helps the Lord has given to our Christian life and service. 
They have given peculiar and blessed inspiration to our gatherings 
for prayer; for they have rung in our ears so tenderly the call of 
duty, have urged us so tenderly to reconsecration, have put in our 
lips petitions so earnest for God's aid, have held up before us so 
attractively the satisfactions to be realized, the joys, the glory to 
be won, that doubts and gloom have been often banished, sloth 
broken up, the things of faith more clearly apprehended and 
rejoiced in, the life of faith, and prayer, and toil for Christ more 
zealously taken up, more faithfully carried on. 

They have had like ministry in our sabbath schools ; no songs 
have more quickly reached and more powerfully moved the chil- 
dren. Hundreds and even thousands have been won by them not 
only to sing for Jesus, but to accept the call of Him of Nazareth, 
and can say to-dav from the heart, as they do with their lips, — - 

"Hallelujah, 'tis done ! 
I believe on the Son ; 
I am saved by the blood of the crucified One." 

And in our family circles these sweet songs have been a 
perpetual joy. Times without number they have comforted the 



LETTER OF CONDOLENCE. 283 

bereaved, cheered the discouraged, strengthened the weak, bright- 
ened as with the light of heaven the faces of the dying. 

Dear madam, as we recall these things we cannot but lift up 
thanksgiving in the midst of our tears for God's gift of this servant 
to his Church in the latter days ; and we feel that God has greatly 
honored you, as he honored the mother of Samuel and the mother 
of David, in giving you such a treasure, and through your prayers 
and Christian nurture preparing him for such a glorious ministry 
of winning souls. We rejoice also for the work which he is yet 
to do. Although he rests from his labors, through all the ages to 
come his works will follow him. Already these gospel songs are 
sung round the world; yet their mission is only begun. As the 
years roll on, like the handful of seed dropped in the furrow they 
shall yield increasing harvest, till from all lands and kindreds 
and tongues there shall come up a mighty throng to cast their 
crowns at the feet of that dear Lord whose dying love it was our 
dear brother's highest joy to magnify. 

We do not forget how lonely the way will be unto which you 
are called by this Providence. But though this beloved son's arm, 
upon which you hoped to lean in these declining years, has been 
struck down, a stronger arm, a surer support, still remains; and in 
the kingdom of the Shepherd of Israel your feet will not stumble. 
Though the face you had so loved to look upon is withdrawn, the 
face of One altogether lovely will shine ever in its place. Though 
the voice so full of music to your ears is hushed, the voice that 
spake as never man spoke, and to hear which all heaven would 
keep glad silence, will speak unceasingly to your heart. And 
evermore before you and the dear children so bereft will be the 
vision of the beloved gone before, and of the welcome that awaits 
your coming at the gate of the city. 

As we speak these words there comes to us one of the songs, that, 
like the precious Scripture lyric of which it was born, has been 
blessed of God to many a weary pilgrim. May its cheering, hope- 



284 LIFE OF ME. P. P. BLISS. 

ful words minister strength to yon as to those who listened to it 
from the lips now sealed to human ears ! — 

" Through the valley of the shadow I must go, 

Where the cold waves of Jordan roll; 
But the promise of my Shepherd will, I know, 

Be the rod and the staff of my soul. 
Even now down the valley as I glide, 

I can liear my Saviour say, ' Follow me ! ' 
And with him I'm not afraid to cross the tide: 

There's a light in the valley for me. 



Now the rolling of the billows I can hear, 

As they beat on the turf-bound shore, 
But the beacon-light of love so bright and clear 

Guides my bark frail and low safely o'er. 
I shall find down the valley no alarms, 

For my Saviour's blessed smile I can see; 
He will bear me in his loving, mighty arms : 

There's a light in the valley for me." 

We wish also to express through you our most sincere and 
prayerful sympathy with the parents of our beloved sister, Mrs. 
Bliss. Some of us have known how peculiarly identified with her 
husband she was in all his work for Christ. And no testimony 
could be more beautiful than that which he so often bore to the 
cheerfulness with which she accepted the separations from home 
which his evangelistic life necessitated, and the loving encourage- 
ment and aid, alike by counsel, pen, and voice, which it was her 
delight to render. Lovely and pleasant in their lives, in their 
death they were not divided. And through all future years, while 
their memories will be alike cherished, their labors will be alike 
fruitful. 

And now, dear madam, we commend you all, and especially 
these dear children, to the tender care, the unfailing guardianship, 
of Him whose mercies never fail. May the peace of God, which 



LETTER OF CONDOLENCE. 285 

passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. And through Him who is 
the resurrection and the life, may we all be gathered with these 
beloved in the home where ' ' God shall wipe away all tears from 
our eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor 
crying, neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former things 
are passed away. ' ' 

In the bonds and consolations of the gospel we are affection- 
ately yours, 

Edward P. Goodwin, 

First Congregational Church. 
Charles Edward Cheney, 

Christ Church. 
M. M. Parkhurst, 
Clark-street Methodist Episcopal Church. 
W. W. Everts, 

First Baptist Church. 
W. J. Petrie, 

Church of our Saviour. 

On the sabbath following the disaster, memorial ser- 
vices were held at Chicago in the Tabernacle, which 
was crowded to its utmost capacity. They consisted 
mainly of the singing of the hymns of the deceased, 
interspersed with brief remarks and prayers. 

Mr. Moody said, " The hymns of Mr. Bliss are such 
as he was himself, full of life and cheer. In all the 
years I have known and worked with him, I have 
never once seen him cast down : here is a hymn of his 
I think we may sing. It begins, ' Brightly beams our 
Father's mercy.' Yet still more brightly beams the 
light along the shore to which he has passed. My 



286 LIFE OF MR. P. P. BLISS. 

heart goes out for his mother. He was an only son, 
and his mother is a widow. Let us just put up a prayer 
for this mother. And there was dear Mrs. Bliss, who 
was not one inch behind her husband. She taught 
him how to pray, and encouraged him with his music. 
I have often heard him say, ' All I am I owe to that 
dear wife.' It was in the midst of a terrible storm that 
he passed away ; but the lights which he kindled are 
burning all along the shore. He has died young ; but 
his hymns are sung round the world." 

The Rev. Dr. Goodwin said, " The other day I re- 
ceived a visit from a missionary in South Africa. He 
said he was going out, some time ago, to establish a 
new mission ; and, taking refuge in a Zulu hut, the first 
thing he heard was ' Hold the Fort,' sung in the Zulu 
language." 

Meetings were held in many other cities, commem- 
orative of the death and characters of Mr. and Mrs. 
Bliss. Dr. Goodwin (of whose church Mr. Bliss was a 
member) preached a funeral sermon at Rome ; and in 
Boston, Jan. 7, a meeting in memoriam was held in the 
hall of the Young Men's Christian Association, which 
was overcrowded. Dr. Eben Tourje'e led the music, 
which was confined to the singing of the hymns of Mr. 
and Mrs. Bliss. Remarks were made by the Rev. M. 
R. Deming on the power of the gospel songs which they 
had composed, and on the loss to the church by the 
death of these gifted singers. " The Tribune " as 
kindly as beautifully paid this tribute to Mr. Bliss : — 



NOTICE FKOM "THE TKIBUNE." 287 

" He has been Mr. Moody's right arm ; for Mr. Sankey 
has chiefly sung the songs which the dead singer com- 
posed and used to sing. He is dead, but he lives again ; 
lives in the Sunday school, in the church, in the revival, 
in the foreign missions, in the heart of every man and 
woman striving for something higher and better, wher- 
ever men preach Christ, and sinners seek repentance. 

" It takes much from the sadness of the singer's 
awful death, that his life was so rounded and complete. 
His work had been so well done that death could not 
surprise him, and find him with his mission unaccom- 
plished. He had made his mark, and the mark will 
remain. His life has stopped, but his work goes on in 
every church and in every home all over the world ; 
and years from now, when even his name may be lost, 
his songs will still continue to inspire faltering men 
and women with courage, to bring consolation into the 
house of mourning, to arouse faith in the human heart. 
For such a life, so perfect, so successful, so far-reaching 
in its influences, spent in the most beneficent of labor, 
and lost at the post of duty, there should be no tears. 
Other voices will take up his strains, and the work will 
go on without stop. Their simple beauty is not marred, 
nor is their wonderful influence upon the popular heart 
lessened by his death. Noble and impressive in his 
physique, affable and genial in his conduct with every 
one, earnest and untiring in his work, he will long be 
missed as a leader in the evangelical movement which 
is now stirring the popular heart ; but he has left his 



288 LIFE OF MR. P. P. BLISS. 

impress upon the world, with results more lasting than 
the work achieved by heroes of the battle-field or mas- 
ters of state-craft. His harp is forever silent, his voice 
forever hushed ; but the songs which he sung can never 
die. Their melody, like the brook, goes on forever." 

He left two children, George G. and Paul P. ; the 
one about two, and the other about four years old. 
For them Mr. Moody raised at once by subscription 
the sum of ten thousand dollars, and also a liberal sum 
for the mother of Mr. Bliss. The father of Mrs. P. P. 
Bliss is still living, at Rome, Penn. 

In his personal appearance Mr. Bliss was remarkably 
prepossessing ; in his manners, affable, obliging, and 
polite. " He was tall and well developed in his phys- 
ical frame," says one who knew him intimately, " with 
clustering black hair and a handsome face ; possessing 
easy and polished manners and a very joyous tempera- 
ment, together with a wealth of sympathy." His songs 
and poetry breathe the spirit of his own bright and 
joyous disposition, the movement of the music being 
lively, and the minor key but seldom introduced. 

" I am so glad that Jesus loves me," — 

with its light sextuple measure, well represents his 
genial and loving nature. It could have come only 
from a heart aglow with life and joy in the Redeemer. 
Mrs. Bliss, who died at the age of thirty-five years, was 
a fitting companion of such a noble man. With fine 
natural abilities improved by culture, with an affluence 



PERSONAL TRAITS OP MR. BLISS. 289 

of good-nature, a lively imagination, and a spirit sancti- 
fied by religion, she made his home and public life 
happy ; dividing his sorrow and doubling his joy. In 
life they were as one, in death they were not divided. 
The pictures which the artist has here given of them, 
says Mr. Sankey in a letter lying before me, " are very 
good, especially the one of Mrs. Bliss." The scene of 
the dreadful accident by which they lost their lives is 
vividly presented at the bottom of the portraits. A 
penny contribution has been taken up in the sabbath 
schools for the erection of a monument in honor of the 
lamented singers. But their noblest and most enduring 
monument is the beautiful Christian hymns and tunes 
they have composed. These will still ring on, comfort- 
ing and consoling many, and embalming the names 
of the authors in the hearts of millions of the heirs of 
glory. 

In his own sweet words we may say that these two 
loved ones, whose rich music fills so many souls with 
gladness, are now singing sweeter songs, — 



Safe in a country rare, 
Safe in a heavenly portal, 

Safe in a mansion fair; 
Safe with the joys supernal, 

Safe with the blest to bow, 
Safe with the Love eternal, 

Safe with the Master now." 






l^^cM 




DR. EBEN T0URJEE. 

This distinguished musical director, whose services 
materially enhance the interest of the revival at the 
Tabernacle in Boston, was born in Warwick, R.I., on 
the first day of June, 1834, and is consequently forty- 
two years of age. He is of Huguenot descent, his 
ancestors having, in company with the Tourtelottes, 
Mauneys, and other French families, settled in Rhode 
Island soon after the famous Edict of Nantes by which 
the Protestants of France were compelled to seek for 
safety in foreign lands. He is the son of Ebenezer and 
Anne D. (Ball) Tourjee, and is through Ebenezer 5 , 
Jeremiah 4 , John 3 , and Peter 2 , of the sixth generation 
from Peter 1 , the original settler. He early evinced a re- 
markable fondness for music. The ringing of bells, the 
sounds of the fife and drum, the tones of the organ, 
filled his soul with delight ; and such was the correct- 
ness of his ear that he was generally called upon to 
give the pitch of the tunes sung in the sabbath school. 
Having religious parents, and a mental organization 
keenly alive to good impressions, he was at the age of 
eleven years converted to Christ, and soon afterwards 
became a member of the Methodist church of which 

291 



292 LIFE OF DR. EBEN TOURJEE. 

the Rev. George M. Brewster was then the pastor. As 
an alto singer in the choir, he learned by rote the com- 
mon psalm-tunes then in vogue, but had no knowledge 
of music as an art. The following circumstance, how- 
ever, led him to determine to make of it a life-study. 
A daughter of Gov. Elisha Harris was the organist of 
the church at Harris ville (Warwick), and was about to 
be married. The governor, who had observed the musi- 
cal ability of 'young Tourjee, then thirteen years of age, 
and in his employ, said to him on a certain Wednesday 
evening, " I wish you would learn to play the organ 
soon as possible. Here is the key." The lad had 
never played on that or any other instrument ; but 
the key was in his trembling hand: it was the key 
to his fortune. He longed to touch the instrument; 
he feared he could not play it. He did not dare 
refuse the governor ; indeed, he did not wish to do it, 
for his fingers burned to touch the instrument. He 
unlocked it, looked at the ivory keys, but knew not 
which were high or low. He touched them, and the 
tones responded to his wishes. He soon made out the 
air of " Greenville," then added to it the bass ; and so 
the hope came fluttering over him, that he might possi- 
bly prepare himself for the services of the coming sab- 
bath. On the succeeding evenings of the week he 
learned to play " Chimes," " Naomi," and " Lanesboro'," 
and thus with his four tunes went creditably through 
his part of the sacred services. He was soon appointed 
organist of the church ; and this enabled him to go to 



LIFE OF DR. EBEN TOITRJEE. . 293 

Providence, thirteen miles distant, and take lessons in 
music of Mr. Henry Eastcott, who thus had the honor 
of initiating him into the mysteries of his beloved art. 
He sometimes walked the whole distance ; and his prac- 
tice was on the organ in the old Round Top Church. At 
the age of fifteen years he became a clerk in the music 
store of Mr. E. W. Billings of Providence, with whom 
he remained two years, enjoying many facilities for 
study, and making the acquaintance of many musical 
people. At the age of seventeen he opened for himself 
a music store in Fall River, Mass., and at the same time 
taught music in the public schools, and edited a little 
paper called " The Keynote," in which he prophetically 
indicated some of the musical schemes that he has sub- 
sequently carried into effect. In 1855 " The Keynote " 
was merged into " The Massachusetts Musical Journal," 
which he conducted for one year. On the thirty-first 
day of October of the same year he was married to Miss 
Abbie I. Tuell of Warren, R.L, an estimable lady whose 
death he was called to mourn in 1867. This union was 
blessed with four children : Lizzie S., Emma (deceased), 
Clara S., and Homer. For his second wife he married 
Miss Sarah Lee of Newton, Mass., by whom he had 
Hattie and Arthur, the former of whom died at the age 
of two years. Closing his business at Fall River, young 
Tourjee went to reside in Newport, R.L, where he 
officiated as organist of the First Baptist Church one 
year, and then at Trinity Church four years, perform- 
ing on the celebrated instrument which Dean Berkeley 



294 LIFE OF DR. EBEN TOURJEE. 

sent over as a present to the town which bears his 
name. 1 

In addition to his labors as organist, he held musical 
conventions, and taught music in the public schools of 
the city. 

As early as 1851 he entertained the idea of establish- 
ing a musical conservatory on the European plan, in 
which his favorite art should assume the same position 
as other branches in our literary institutions, and thus 
be systematically pursued, so as to give completeness to 
a liberal culture of the mind. He had not the means 
himself to establish such an institution ; nor were those 
to whom he applied for aid disposed to advance much 
money for carrying into effect what they believed to be 
a visionary scheme. But the reformer clung to his 
idea : he made it not only the subject of stud} r , but of 
prayer. For years his mind was brooding over his 
beloved project; and in 1859 he succeeded in opening 
at the academy in East Greenwich, R.I., his original 
conservatory of music, and the first one in America. 
At the beginning he had but three pupils; yet, moving 
on persistently, he soon made of it a marked success. 
In 1863 he visited Europe. He examined carefully the 
musical institutions there established, and for some 
time enjoyed the instruction of several of the most 
eminent masters. At Berlin he introduced successfully 

1 The people of Berkeley voted not to receive the gift, declaring that 
"an organ is an instrument of the Devil for the entrapping of men's 
souls." 



LIFE OF DR. EBE2T TOTJEJEE. 295 

our American style of singing into the sabbath schools, 
which prior to that time had sung nothing but the 
heavy choral music of that country. He returned to 
America, bringing with him many musical curiosities 
and a rich store of information in respect to musical 
subjects, gained by intercourse with the most cele- 
brated instructors and composers of the age. In 1865 
he established a chartered music school in Providence, 
R.I. ; and on the 18th of February, 1867, opened under 
favorable auspices, and a charter from the State, the 
New England Conservatory of Music, at the Music 
Hall in Boston. Thus was realized the fond aspiration 
of his early manhood; thus was laid, after years of 
planning and of preparation, a music school on a grand 
and liberal scale, embracing in its several departments 
teachers of the highest skill, and furnishing at a mod- 
erate cost a musical education of the highest order. 
During the ten years of its existence, it has had not less 
than sixteen thousand pupils under its tuition, many of 
whom have already attained distinction in the musical 
world; and from it have sprung many other similar 
institutions. 

In consideration of his eminent abilities as a musical 
director, the degree of Doctor of Music was in 1869 
conferred on him by the Wesley an University ; and no 
man in this country is more worthy of the title. In 
the same year his administrative powers were anew 
called into action, by the organization of the choruses, 
consisting of twenty thousand voices, for the grand 



296 LIFE OF DR. EBEN TOURJEE. 

Peace Jubilee of P. S. Gilmore. But for the influence 
of the conservatory in elevating the style of music in 
New England, and the admirable management of Dr. 
Tourjee, that great musical festival could not have 
taken place. It was the outgrowth of an idea cher- 
ished by a youth of seventeen while editor of " The 
Keynote," in Fall River, and having its development 
in the conservatory at East Greenwich, then at Provi- 
dence, and finally at Boston. But that is not by any 
means the measure of the influence of the institution 
founded by Dr. Tourjee. It has sent the charms of 
music into thousands of our happy homes ; it has raised 
the standard of musical culture in our public schools 
and in our churches ; it has improved the music of 
the concert-room ; and, either directly or indirectly, 
it has awakened a taste for music in the minds of mil- 
lions. During the summer vacation of the conserva- 
tory, Dr. Tourjee holds a musical institute at East 
Greenwich, R.I., where teachers of music from various 
parts of the country enjoy the instructions of his corps 
of Boston artists. 

Dr. Tourjee holds the office of Dean of the faculty 
of the College of Music in the Boston University, and 
was for years superintendent of the sabbath school, and 
President of the North End Mission ; a noble work of 
charity, which owes its foundation and continued suc- 
cess largely to his self-denying labors. He is an earnest 
advocate of congregational singing in the churches ; and 
his able address on that subject, delivered in many cities, 



LIFE OF DR. EBEN TOUBJEE. 297 

has contributed in no small degree to produce a favor- 
able change in public sentiment. His excellent work 
on psalmody, entitled " The Tribute of Praise," in which 
all the tunes are so arranged as to be easily sung by 
the congregation, has also been conducive to the same 
desirable end. His other publications are, " The Chorus 
Choir," consisting of classic music from the old masters ; 
" The Lesser Hymnal ; " and " The New England Con- 
servatory's Pianoforte Method," which appeared in 18T0. 
The same year, by invitation of the National Teachers' 
Association, he prepared and read, at their annual 
convention, a paper upon music and its relations to 
other studies. At the close of the reading President 
Fairchild warmly commended it, and ashed for its 
publication, which was unanimously voted. 

To Dr. Tourjee the Church is indebted for the con- 
ception and plan of the praise-meeting. As early as 
1851 he began to hold in Warren, R.I., the home of 
his first wife, meetings for praise. He called them 
" sings." The people were interested in the exercises. 
Subsequently he united the congregation, choir, and 
sabbath school in these assemblies for singing, and 
called them, by the approval of Messrs. Webb and 
Mason, " praise-meetings." . The design is to inter- 
blend responsive Scriptural readings on any given topic, 
as " Heaven," " The Advent," " The Promises," with 
responsive singing by the congregation. A brief prayer 
is also introduced. A logical order is preserved, so 
that the mind is not confused by the multiplicity of 



298 LIFE OF DR. EBEN TOURJEE. 

thoughts presented. Thus, if the theme be "Heaven," 
the first part of the exercise may describe the beauties 
of the place ; the second, the occupants of heaven ; the 
third, the joys of heaven : the fourth, the way to 
heaven; and the whole may close with an invitation 
to heaven. An exercise so arranged may teach many 
truths impressively, and be carried on with far more 
life and spirit than an ordinary prayer-meeting. It 
tends also to call forth the inert musical ability of the 
people, and to promote congregational singing in the 
churches. When the great revival meetings com- 
menced at the Tabernacle in Boston, Dr. Tourjee came 
forward with a choir of about two thousand voices, 
separated into five or six sections; and with one of 
these, under his own or some other leadership, he has 
directed with great acceptance the music of the 
immense congregations, — sometimes in the way of a 
praise-meeting, sometimes in that of the grand old 
chorals, and then again in that' of music by the choir 
alone. In no city have the revivalists been sustained 
by better music than in Boston ; and it is certainly most 
gratifying to every Christian in the audience to see the 
accomplished director of the largest musical conserva- 
tory in the world thus lending his own personal influ- 
ence to swell the tide of song that rises from the 
mighty concourse to the praise of the Redeemer. 

Dr. Tourjee has filled the office of President of the 
Boston Young Men's Christian Association, is now 
President of the Boston Missionary and Church Exten- 



LIFE OF DR. EBEN TOTTRJEE. 299 

sion Society of the Methodist-Episcopal Church, and 
was recently elected President of the National Music 
Teachers' Association. 

Dr. Tourjee has a very sweet tenor voice, and is 
never so happy as when using it for the honor of his 
God. Indeed, all his plans and purposes are sanctified 
by prayer, and carried on for the advancement of the 
kingdom of the Lord. His life-work is Christ-work. 
He looks on music as the voice of God to lead us 
heavenward. He employs it for the purposes of praise ; 
and nothing is more beautiful than to behold a man of 
his executive power and rare endowments consecrating 
all to Christ, and with warm enthusiasm striving to 
raise music, one of heaven's serenest gifts to man, to 
its legitimate design of rendering praises to Jehovah's 
name. In person this eminent musical director is pre- 
possessing and agreeable. His countenance is open, 
frank, and genial ; his hair is brown, his forehead fair 
and well developed ; his eye is large and full, his 
mouth expressive. In manner he is polite and courte- 
ous ; in speech, graceful and confiding. His concep- 
tions are vivid, and his mental combinations rapid, 
though distinct and clear. With great suavity, and 
tenderness of feeling, he at the same time possesses a 
reserved force equal to any emergency that may arise ; 
and, if life is spared to him, will make a still higher 
record in the musical world. 

The following incident from his pen, and relating to 
his beloved mission, carried on now for about ten years, 



300 LIFE OF t>E. EBEN TOUEJEE. 

will serve as a specimen of his spirit as well as of his 
style in writing : — 

" One Sunday," says Dr. Tourje'e, " a man came in 
to our Sunday school at the Boston North End Mission, 
drawn by the sweetness of the children's singing. He 
remained until the close, and came again that evening 
to our prayer-meeting. When the customary invita- 
tion to seek the Saviour was given, he came, forward, 
and found ' peace in believing.' To a few of us who 
had remained to pray with the penitent seekers he said, 
' My friends, I feel that I'm a saved man ; and I owe it 
to your children's singing " Jesus loves me" this after- 
noon. I couldn't realize it, I've -been such a miserable 
sinner; but after I went away I thought it over, 
"Jesus loves me;" and then I thought of the next 
line, " The Bible tells me so," and I tried to believe it ; 
and I came here this evening to get you to pray for 
mej He became a regular attendant at the mission, 
and while with us gave the clearest evidence of a 
genuine change of heart. 

"This is but one of very many similar instances of 
almost weekly occurrence at this mission. This same 
man soon after felt called by the Holy Spirit to prepare 
himself for the Christian ministry ; and at present he is 
regularly occupying a pulpit in Massachusetts, spending 
much of his time during the week in lecturing upon 
the evils of intemperance." 



SACKED SONG IN EVANGELISM. 



SACRED SONG IN EVANGELISM. 



THE POWEE, AND RESULTS OF SACRED SONG IN EVANGELISM.— 
REMARKS ON THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 

General Effect of Music. — Singing in Ancient Times. — St. Augustine. 
— Ambrosian and Gregorian Tones. — Luther and the Reformation. 
— Richard Baxter. — Our Forefathers. — Hymns of Wesley. — An 
Actress. — An Irishman converted by Song. — A Hymn of Charles 
Wesley. — Revival Songs. — Contributions to Hymnology. — W. B. 
Bradbury, Bliss, Phillips, and other Hymnists. — Effect of their 
Songs. — Sankey's Singing. — A Young Girl converted. —A Gentle- 
man led to Christ. — An Old Man's Saying. — An Infidel. — An Aged 
Man's Story. — Singing at Glasgow. — A Highlander. — A Sceptic. — 
An Incident. — Mr. Baxter. — Isaac R. Diller. — Remarks of " The 
Moravian." — Dr. Talmage. — Maggie Lindsay. — A Touching Death- 
Scene. — Influence of the New Style of Music on the Psalmody of 
the Church. — More of the Gospel Hymns. — Psalms of David. — 
Gospel Songs. — "Teaching Hymns." — More Singing needed. — 
Formality in Music. — Design of Church Music. — How far is the 
Revival Method of Singing practicable? — What is requisite? 

" Teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual 
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." — St. Paul. 
" I would begin the music here, 
And so my soul should rise ; 
Oh, for some heavenly notes to beat 

My spirit to the skies ! " —Isaac "Watts. 
" Saints below with heart and voice, 
Still in songs of praise rejoice ; 
Learning here, by faith and love, 
Songs of praise to sing above." — James Montgomery. 

The influence of music on the heart of man is 
mighty. There is no sorrow it may not alleviate, no 

303 



304 SINGING IN ANCIENT TIMES. 

joy it may not exalt. Hence the military commander, 
the dramatist, and the reformer, have in all ages 
pressed it into service. Its power lies not only in 
imparting immediate pleasure, but also in awakening 
sweet or grand associations, and in breathing into the 
soul fresh ardor for the accomplishment of its purposes. 
The battle-hymns of nations have sometimes roused, 
more than the words of orators, the spirit of the 
people ; and, when all other arts have failed, a simple 
song has sometimes brought back reason to the mind 
of a distracted king. Since, then, music has such 
marvellous power, it is not at all surprising that the 
servants of God have in every age employed it, not 
only for the expression of grateful praise, but also as 
a means for propagating the religion they profess. 
Indeed, the singing of psalms, as David tells us, " was 
a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob ; " 
and he also declares in one of his sweet lyrics, that 
when all the people praise God, " then shall the earth 
yield her increase " (Ps. lxvii. 6). 

The disciples of our Saviour sung a hymn at the Last 
Supper ; and Paul and Silas whiled away the hours of 
their imprisonment, as many others in bonds have done, 
by singing the inspiring songs of Israel. The early 
Christians understood full well the power of music, 
and used it both for consolation and for the advance- 
ment of the Master's kingdom. 

" How many tears have I shed," says St. Augustine, 
" when I heard hymns and canticles sung in the church 



LTTTHEE, AND THE REFOKMATION. 305 

to thy praise, O my God! While the sound thereof 
struck my ears, thy truth entered my heart ; it drew 
tears from my eyes, and made me find comfort and 
delight in those very tears." 

St. Ambrose instituted the Ambrosian chant at Milan, 
" that the people might not languish and pine away 
with a tedious sorrow ; " and in the fourth century St. 
Gregory introduced the Gregorian tones into Rome, 
which on certain occasions are still chanted. During 
the mediaeval ages many Greek and Latin hymns as — 

" Jerusalem the golden, 

With milk and honey blest," — 

the " Stabat Mater," and " Dies Irae," were written, 
and sacred song was practised to inspire devotion and 
to keep alive the embers of religion in the church ; yet 
it may be noticed that whenever any thing of a revival 
spirit rose, then with it swelled more fervently the tide 
of hallowed praise. The great reformation was in part 
produced by music. Luther knew and confessed its 
power. " Next unto theology," he said, " I give the 
place and highest honor unto music." " It is," he also 
said, " a half-discipline and schoolmistress to make the 
people gentler, milder, more moral, and wiser." In 
accordance with this opinion, he introduced new hymns 
and music, such as the Old Hundredth, to be sung 
congregationally in the reformed churches. The Prot- 
estant armies sometimes sung this and other grand old 
chorals on the eve of battle. The Nonconformists of 



306 HYMNS OF WESLEY. 

England, as well as the Covenanters of Scotland, alle- 
viated their burdens and poured forth their praises in 
psalms and spiritual songs. " Methinks," said the pious 
Richard Baxter, a celebrated Nonconformist, " when 
we are singing the praises of God in great assemblies, 
with joyful and fervent spirits, I have the liveliest 
foretaste of heaven upon earth; and I could almost 
wish that our voices were loud enough to reach 
through the world, and to heaven itself. Nothing 
comforts me more in my greatest sufferings, or seems 
more fit for me while I wait for death, than singing 
psalms of praise to God; nor is there any exercise in 
which I had rather end my life." 

Our forefathers appreciated the value of music con- 
secrated to the service of the Lord: it served to lighten 
the burdens of life in the wilderness, and give them a 
foretaste of joys to come. 

" Amid the storm they sang; 

And the stars heard, and the sea; 
And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang 
With the anthems of the free." 

It is a significant fact, that when, in the days of witch- 
craft, religion had declined to the lowest point, the 
singing in the churches also became almost intolerable. 
The people could execute but three or four tunes, and 
those only by rote. During the great revivals under 
the lead of the Wesleys and under the eloquent George 
Whitefield, sacred music played a conspicuous part. It 



AN ACTRESS. 307 

was then that Charles Wesley produced his glorious 
hymns, as, " Jesus, lover of my soul," " I know that my 
Redeemer lives," " Depth of mercy ! can there be ? " 
and insisted on the use of a livelier style of music, 
which should not only express the sentiment of the 
hymn, but also inflame the hearts of the congregation. 
The effect produced by the singing of these new evan- 
gelical hymns by large assemblies was sometimes mar- 
vellous. Many were converted by hearing them, and 
continued to sing them alone and in their homes until 
the close of life. 

An actress one day heard some poor people in a cot- 
tage singing, — 

' ' Depth of mercy ! can there be 
Mercy still reserved for me? " — 

and also a simple prayer which followed it. Her heart 
was touched, and when first importuned by the mana- 
ger of the theatre to perform her part, declined to do so, 
but afterwards consented. When the curtain rose she 
was to sing a song, and the orchestra began to play 
the accompaniment ; but she did not appear. It com- 
menced again, when, coming forward with her eyes 
suffused with tears, she sung, instead of the appointed 

song, — 

' ' Depth of mercy ! can there be 
Mercy still reserved f or me ? " — 

with such effect as to lead some present to consecrate 
themselves, as she herself had done, to the service of 
the Lord. 



308 • HYMN OF CHARLES WESLEY. 

Thousands who cared but little for the spoken word 
were drawn into the religious meetings just to hear the 
new and stirring songs of Wesley. Mr. Southey speaks 
of one instance which he regarded as the most singular 
case of instantaneous conversion ever recorded. It was 
in Wexford, Ireland, where, to avoid the violence of the 
Romanists, the worshippers shut themselves up in a barn. 
In order to open the door to their opponents, an Irish- 
man concealed himself in a bag ; but when the singing 
commenced, it so delighted him that he decided to 
remain and hear it through, and after that the prayer. 
But the service so affected him that he from his place of 
concealment cried outright. The people then removed 
him from the sack, and found in him a real penitent. 

The preaching of Charles Wesley was indeed effec- 
tive ; yet his glorious hymns, which have now been 
ringing round the world for one whole century, are a 
thousand-fold more effective. Every day they bring, 
by their sweet influence, souls to rejoice in hope of 
glory. 

I would rather have written the grand, comforting, 
and reviving hymn, — 

" Jesus, lover of my soul, 

Let me to thy bosom fly," — 

than to rule a kingdom. Princes die ; their graves are 
seldom visited : but in that hymn Charles Wesley lives 
forever, and by it he makes others live who love to 
scatter flowers upon his resting place. The Wesleys. 



W. B. BRADBURY. 309 

Dr. Watts, Dr. Doddridge, and Mrs. Steele produced by 

their inspiring strains a new departure in hymnology; 

and they still go on singing the gospel songs through 

the generations. 

The revival of forty years ago in this country called 

forth a certain class of new hymns which were set to 

lively music, and sung with spirit; yet many of the 

lyrics, as, — 

" Don't you see my Jesus coming ? " — 

' ' Now the Saviour stands a-pleading 

At the sinner's bolted heart," — 

" When I was down in Egypt land," — 

are entirely destitute of any poetic merit, and the tunes 
are secular. But the excellent hymns of Samuel F. 
Smith, our best writer of sacred lyric poetry, of Dr. 
Thomas Hastings, and others, together with the music 
of Zeuner, Mason, Kingsley, Hastings, and Webb, soon 
put to silence what were called " the revival melo- 
dies." These rich contributions to hymnology and 
psalmody, in connection with the wealth of hallowed 
song from Great Britain, especially from the gifted 
pens of Heber, Lyte, and Montgomery, met for a while 
the wants of our evangelical churches. 

Then William B. Bradbury came, and set the world 
a little forward by his beautiful songs. He embalmed 
many new and sweetly devotional hymns, as Walford's 
" Sweet Hour of Prayer " and Gilmore's " He Leadeth 
me," in simple yet heart-moving music which tli6 
church holds as a precious legacy. While he sings the 



310 EFFECT OF THEIR SONGS. 

beatific song, the pleasant strains he left us cheer 
unnumbered pilgrims on their way to join him in the 
anthems pealing over the " sweet fields of Eden." 

But the kingdom of our Lord is ever rolling on, and 
as it rolls demands new men, new measures, and new 
songs. Bliss, Phillips, Lowry, Fischer, Sankey, enter 
on the stage, and in a style unknown before sing songs 
so fresh, so sweet, so cheerful, and withal so evangelical, 
as to win the hearts of millions to the Saviour, and to 
form a new era in the psalmody of the church. 

Never perhaps in the whole course of Christianity 
have any songs turned, in so brief a period, so many 
hearts to seek the Lord, as those of Mr. Bliss ; never 
perhaps has any voice ever preached the gospel so 
effectively in song as that of Mr. Sankey. Thousands 
and thousands of people attribute their conversion to 
some truth sent into the heart, and made to stay there, 
by the silver tones of his sympathetic voice. They 
were drawn, perhaps, to the place of worship by the 
fame of the " gospel singer." They heard unmoved the 
fiery appeals, the touching stories, of Mr. Moody ; but 
the rare tenderness of some strain of the " gospel singer " 
stole into deep recesses of the soul, awakening it, as 
the breath of May the flower, to life and beauty. The 
burst of song that rises grandly from a vast congrega- 
tion has the general effect of inspiring all with an 
emotion of sublimity : the voice of one alone comes 
searching more directly into each individual heart. 
Mr. Sankey literally sings the gospel. He makes the 



A YOUNG GIRL CONVERTED. 311 

music altogether subservient to the words, and these 
he enunciates with the utmost clearness. His melo- 
deon sounds more like an ^Eolian harp than a reed- 
organ ; and he puts his soul in all its trembling delicacy 
so entirely into his words, his voice, his instrument, that 
the effect is wonderfully sweet and winning. When 
the hearer feels the gospel is thus sung for nothing but 
to save his soul, how can he find it in his heart to 
reject the message? 

The following incidents revealing the effect of Mr. 
Sankey's and other singing on the heart, and as instru- 
mental in producing conviction and conversion during 
the revivals, both at home and abroad, will undoubt- 
edly be read with interest, and it is hoped with profit 
also. 

A thoughtless young girl, unable to get into one of 
the revival meetings in Edinburgh, remained outside ; 
and hearing Mr. Sankey sing in his own affectionate 
style, "I am so glad that Jesus loves me," said, " I 
cannot sing that," and at the close of the service went 
in among the inquirers, and became a Christian. 

A gentleman in the same city was in distress of soul, 
and happened to linger in a pew after the noon-meet- 
ing. The choir had remained to practise, and began to 
sing the song of Mr. Bliss, — 

" Free from the law, oh, happy condition! 
Jesus hath bled, and there is remission," — 

when the Spirit of God entered his soul, and led him 
to rejoice in the removal of his burden. 



312 AN INFIDEL. 

"Perhaps," says a correspondent, "not a week has 
passed during the last year, in which we have not had 
evidence that the Lord had directly used a line of one 
of these hymns in the salvation of a soul." 

Mr. Sankey said to a young minister one time, " I 
am thinking of singing, 4 1 am so glad,' to-night." — 
" Oh, no ! " replied the minister : " do rather sing, ' Jesus 
of Nazareth.' An old man told me to-day that he had 
been awakened by it the last night you were down. 
' It just went through me,' said he, 4 like an electric 
shock.' " 

" Many of the most thrilling and marked cases of 
conversion in Scotland," says the Rev. Mr. Pentecost 
in a communication to me, "have been attributed to 
the solos sung by Mr. Sankey. I recall two cases. 
One of them is that of an infidel, a man past middle 
life, who for years had been zealously engaged in 
attacking Christianity and propagating infidelity. He 
came to the meetings to scoff, and to expose, as he said, 
the 'humbug.' One night Mr. Sankey sung the 
exquisitely tender hymn, i Waiting and watching for 
me ; ' and when he came to the verse, — 

' There are little ones glancing about in my path, 

In want of a friend and a guide ; 
There are dear little eyes looking up into mine, 

Whose tears might be easily dried. 
But Jesus may beckon the children away 

In the midst of their grief and their glee : 
Will any of them at the beautiful gate 

Be waiting and watching for me?' — 



AN AGED MAN'S STOKY. 313 

The memory of an infant's face that once looked up 
into his, but which had long years ago been ' beckoned 
away,' came up so vividly, that his heart was melted. 
That was God's opportunity. The truth entered his 
soul, and he became one of Mr. Moody's best Christian 
workers." 

I heard one day a man whose hair was white with 
more than fifty years rise up and tell the story of his 
conversion. He was a well-known citizen, a prominent 
politician, yet had led a somewhat dissipated life. He 
was present at one of the meetings, and heard Mr. 
Sankey sing " Jesus of Nazareth passeth by." When 
the last verse was sung, — 

" But if you still this call refuse, 
And all his wondrous love abuse, 
Soon will he sadly from you turn, 
Your bitter prayer for pardon spurn ; 
* Too late, too late ! ' will be the cry, 
1 Jesus of Nazareth hath passed by.' " 

He said that he had always secretly intended to be a 
Christian some time before he died ; but with the verse 
and with the words, — 

"Jesus of Nazareth hath passed by," — 

the terrible thought came to him, " What if Jesus of 
Nazareth has passed me by, and it is too late ? " The 
thought moved his heart. He went home, fell on his 
knees, sought the mercy of God, and found peace in 
believing. 



314 A SCEPTIC, 

Speaking of the first meetings of the evangelists in 
Glasgow, Dr. Andrew A. Bonar said, " Mr. Sankey's 
singing began at once to be felt as indeed ' the gospel ' 
preached by singing ; impressive, melting, as well as 
most attractive. Is it another of the Lord's many new 
ways, in these last days, of graciously compelling men 
to come in, — like the Grecian mother's agony of desire, 
expressing itself in the song that lured her wayward 
child back from the precipice to safety ? " 

A wicked young man in a Highland parish was 
brought to see and abandon the error of his ways by 
hearing the Rev. W. O. Cushing's simple hymn, — 

" When he cometh, when he cometh to make up his jewels," — 

for which the music was written by Mr. George F. 
Root. 

While the revivalists were at Manchester, an infidel 
was converted by hearing Mr. Sankey sing Fanny J. 
Crosby's fine hymn, — 

" Safe in the arms of Jesus, 
Safe on his gentle breast, 
There by his love o'ershaded, 
Sweetly my soul shall rest." 

"I believed," he subsequently said, "only in God and 
the Devil ; the latter I served well, and sat laughing at 
the Christians about me, whom I thought to be nothing 
better than fools." While listening to the song, as 
touchingly rendered by the singer, a sudden thrill went 
through his heart. 



AN INCIDENT. 315 

" There is," said he, " a Saviour. Who is he ? 
where is he ? " It is enough to add that the scoffer 
found him, and with brightening eye exclaimed, " I will 
now live and work for Jesus." 

At a noonday meeting Mrs. Emily S. Oakey's 

hymn, — 

" Sowing/ the seed by the daylight fair," — 

was given out, when Mr. Sankey rising said, " Before 
we sing this song, I will tell you one reason why we 
should sing these hymns ; and that is, God is blessing 
them to many a poor wanderer who comes to this 
building night after night. Last week a man who had 
once occupied a high position in life came into this hall, 
and sat down. While I was singing this hymn he took 
out his pass-book, and wrote out these words, — 

* Sowing the seed of a lingering pain, 
Sowing the seed of a maddened brain, 
Sowing the seed of a tarnished name, 
Sowing the seed of eternal shame ; 
Oh, what shall the harvest be ? ' 

Last night that man in the inquiry-room went on his 
knees, and asked God to break the chain that had 
dragged him down from such a high position to the 
lowest of the low. He said he had resolved when he 
went out of that praise-meeting that he would cease to 
indulge in the intoxicating cup ; but before he reached 
home he went into a saloon, and broke his resolution. 
We prayed for him last night. He is now praying that 



316 MR. BAXTER. 

God may break his chain. I want you to pray that this 
brand may be plucked from the burning, and that God 
may use these gospel hymns to turn the hearts of sinful 
men." 

A great many instances of the power of the songs of 
Mr. Sankey to reach the hearts of men, and turn them 
to the Saviour, might be presented. At one of the 
meetings in the Tabernacle in Chicago, Mr. Baxter rose 
and said that two years ago his mother died, and so 
intemperate was he then that on his way to notify some 
neighbors that his mother was dying, he stopped and 
got drunk. Five weeks ago he came to Chicago from 
Naperville to put himself in a reformatory institution, 
and got drunk on the way. He wandered into the 
Tabernacle one Sunday for rest, being broken down 
physically and mentally by drink, and heard Mr. 
Sankey sing, " Waiting and Watching." This set him 
to thinking about his mother ; and, if there was any 
word that would touch his hard heart, it was that word 
"mother." All Sunday night he paced the street, una- 
ble to think of any thing except of his mother in heaven 
watching and waiting for him. On Monday he went 
to Farwell Hall, and was there converted. He had had 
nothing but happiness since that. He had found that 
the blood of Jesus had power to cleanse from all sin. 

Mr. Isaac R. Diller, a prominent politician, also in 
another of the meetings rose and made this state- 
ment, — 

" I believe no one can be a politician without being 



REMARKS OF "THE MORAVIAN." 317 

tempted to use intoxicating drinks. I found myself, by- 
reason of my associations, going on from bad to worse, 
and almost breaking the heart of my wife. I have 
attended these meetings a good deal. The first time I 
heard Mr. Moody was at the Park-avenue Methodist 
Church some years ago. When he asked those who 
were Christians to stand up, I did not rise : now, thanks 
to God, I know that I am a Christian. The first inti- 
mation I had from God's Spirit was when I heard Mr. 
Sankey sing, ' Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.' It was 
at the Tabernacle ; the hymn came home to me most 
powerfully, and I began to wonder if Jesus had passed 
me by. But to-day I can say he has not passed me by. 
I am here on the Lord's side." 

Thus, through the potency of truth sweetened by 
song, the kingdom of God is set onward. 

" Men untouched," observes " The Moravian," " by 
any thing that Mr. Moody says, break down under the 
song-question, ' Oh ! what shall the harvest be ? ' They 
feel that they cannot face the awful reaping of what 
they have been sowing ; and they go into the inquiry- 
rooms to learn how they may see better things. One 
evening as we sat behind nine or ten thousand people, 
the words of the hymn were distinctly borne to us over 
the heads of the multitude, — 

' No room, no room! Oh, woful cry, " No room! " ' 

And we felt, as we have seldom done, that the day is 
indeed coming when the door will be shut. 



318 DE. TALMAGE. 

" As the song, « Scatter seeds of kindness,' is being 
sung, we watch the faces before us ; and when the 
words, — 

1 Ah ! those little ice-cold fingers, 

How they point our memories back 
To the hasty words and actions 

Strewn along our backward track! ' — 

sound out, we are startled to see how the arrow goes 
home. These are but instances of the general power 
of Mr. Sankey's singing. Scarcely a day passes with- 
out a letter or a conversation which records a conver- 
sion through the same song-word, made sharp by the 
Spirit in the heart of the king's enemies." 

" I do not know," says Dr. Talmage, " how we shall 
stand the first day in heaven. Do you not think we 
shall break down in the song from over-delight ? I 
once gave out in church the hymn, — 

' There is a land of pure delight, 
Where saints immortal reign. * 

An aged man standing in front of the pulpit sang 
heartily the first verse, and then he sat down weeping. 
I said to him afterwards, ' Father Linton, what made 
you cry over that hymn ? He said, ' I could not stand 
it, — the joys that are coming.' " 

Sometimes these precious songs have proved a source 
of consolation to the sufferer on the dying bed. In the 
touching services held in the Free Assembly Hall, Edin- 
burgh, on the last night of the year 1873, Miss Maggie 



MAGGIE LINDSAY. 319 

Lindsay, an interesting young lady of seventeen years, 
was converted ; and on the twenty-seventh day of Jan- 
uary, 1874, she was fatally injured by the wreck of a- 
train near Linlithgow. She was reading, when the 
accident occurred, the hymn-book of Mr. Sankey ; and 
there was a leaf turned down at her favorite hymn, 
" The Gates Ajar," by Mrs. Elizabeth Baxter, — 

" There is a gate that stands ajar, 

And, through its portals gleaming, 
A radiance from the cross afar, 
The Saviour's love revealing." 

" At one time," says the minister who attended her 
in her dying hours, " when we thought she had fallen 
into a sleep eagerly wished and prayed for by us, we 
moved away out of her sight ; but in a few minutes we 
heard her in low, gentle tones, singing to herself the 

words, — 

1 Nothing either great or small 

Eemains for me to do : 
Jesus died, and paid it all, — 
All the debt I owe. ' 

" She also sung, before she fell asleep in Jesus, Mr. 
Sankey 's hymn, c For me, for me.' " 

Another very touching account is given by an Eng- 
lish writer, of the dying hours of a girl about ten years 
old, who was greatly pleased with the hymns of Mr. 
Sankey. " Oh, how I love," said she, " those dear 
hymns ! " naming especially that by Fanny J. Crosby, — 



320 A TOUCHING DEATH-SCENE. 

" Safe in the arms of Jesus, 
Safe on his gentle breast." 

" ' When I am gone,' said she, ' mother, will you ask 
the girls of the school to sing the hymn, — 

* Ring the bells of heaven ! there is joy to-day 
For a soul returning from the wild; 
See, the Father meets him out upon the way, 
Welcoming his weary, wandering child.' 

" The night before her death she said, ' Dear father 
and mother, I hope I shall meet you in heaven. I am 
so happy, mother! You cannot think how light and 
happy I feel.' Again, ' Perhaps Jesus may send me to 
fetch some of my brothers and sisters : I hope he will 
send me to fetch you, mother.' 

" Half an hour before her departure she exclaimed, 
1 mother, hark at the hells of heaven! they are ring- 
ing so beautifully ! ' 

" Then closing her eyes a while, presently she cried 
again, < Hearken to the harps ! they are most splendid. 
Oh, I wish you could hear them ! ' 

"Then shortly after she spoke again, — 

" ' O mother ! I see the Lord Jesus and the angels ! 
Oh, if you could see them too ! He is sending one to 
fetch me ! ' 

" She had been counting the hours and minutes since 
she had heard the mill-bell at half-past one, p.m., long- 
ing so earnestly to depart, yet expressed a hope she 
might see her dear father (then absent at work) before 
she went. 



INFLUENCE OF THE NEW STYLE OF MUSIC. 321 

" At last, just five minutes or so before her expiring 
breath, she said, — 

" 4 Oh mother! lift me up from the pillow, — high, 
high up ! Oh, I wish you could lift me right up into 
heaven ! ' Then, almost immediately after, — as doubt- 
less conscious that the parting moment was at hand, — 
'Put me down again, — down quick!' Then calmly, 
brightly, joyously, gazing upward, as at some vision of 
surprising beauty, she peacefully, sweetly, triumphantly 
breathed forth her precious spirit into the arms of the 
ministering angel whom Jesus had sent to fetch her ; 
and so was forever with the Lord she loved." 

But what effect, it may now be asked, is this new 
style of hymns and music to have on the service of 
song in our churches ? It may perhaps be safely said 
in reply, that it will be the means of introducing into it 
more of Christ and his precious gospel. The Psalms of 
David are indeed most excellent and dear to every 
Christian heart ; but it must not be forgotten that 
they were written under the old dispensation. I have 
in mind an aged Christian who will tolerate nothing 
but the psalms and hymns of Dr. Watts ; overlooking 
the fact that David had the thoughts and spirit of the 
old dispensation, and perhaps not knowing that Dr. 
Watts has given us nothing more than a loose para- 
phrase of the Psalms. Some of them are minatory, 
and inapplicable to the times in which we live. In his 
version Dr. Watts infused into them as much of 
Christology as he dared to do ; and for it was severely 



322 GOSPEL SONGS. 

criticised by the rigid Hebraists of his day; but the 
churches wanted Christ, and so accepted, against much 
opposition, the new paraphrase. In every fresh revival 
more of Christ was wanted, and the Psalms by slow 
degrees gave way to hymns founded on some passage of 
the gospel. It is interesting to observe that from the 
day of Watts down to " The Songs for the Sanctuary," 
the church hymn-books, both in England and America, 
present in less and less proportion versions of the 
Psalms of David. The revival hymn-book of that 
earnest and successful Christian armor-bearer, the Rev. 
A. B. Earle, does not contain a single psalm ; and I am 
not aware that more than one or two are ever sung in 
the Moody and Sankey meetings. The reason is that 
Christ and him crucified is the grand central theme of 
Christian song ; and David had but dim foreshadowings 
of his work or power. As the Church advances on its 
conquering way, it will turn more and more to Jesus as 
its king and counsellor, and will consequently demand 
more and more of him in its song. One result, then, of 
the new departure in hymnology will be to introduce 
still more of the new, instead of the old dispensation, 
into the worshipping assemblies. 

But has the gospel scope and variety enough to sup- 
ply the church with song ? Dr. Johnson intimates in 
his unfair life of Dr. Watts, that, from the paucity of 
the topics, no one can excel in sacred lyric poetry. He 
had not sounded the depths of that word " grace." In 
its relations to man, as a sinner,- as a Christian, and as 



" TEACHING HYMNS." 323 

an heir of immortality, the gospel gives unnumbered 
topics to the sacred poet's pen. The redeeming love of 
Jesus is a sea without a bottom or a shore. Some of 
the grandest lyrics written since the days of Dr. John- 
son have been inspired by the advent, work, and death 
of Jesus Christ. Cowper, Heber, Lyte, Montgomery, 
Kelly, Smith, Hastings, Bonar, Palmer, Crosby, Adams, 
and Bliss have proved by their precious hymns that the 
subjects clustering round the cross are inexhaustible, 
and adapted also to the higher demands of poetry. 
But nobler strains are yet to come, and the Church will 
wisely press them into its service of song. 

This new style of singing may bring into the sabbath 
services of the church more of what are called teach- 
ing, in contradistinction to praising hymns. We have 
already, in our church manuals of song, many didactic 
hymns, or such as conve} 7 " some knowledge of doctrine ; 
but thejr are often so spiritless and prosaic, as to pro- 
duce but little or no impression on a congregation. 
There are needed in our public service hymns that in 
the way of a story, or of illustration, teach some gospel 
truth, or enforce some religious duty. Let a congrega- 
tion drawl out the words to some such heavy minor 
tune as " Burford," — 

" Naked as from the earth I came, 
And crept to life at first," — 

and then break into the stirring song that tells and 
teaches something heartily, — 



324 FOBMALITY IN MUSIC. 

" Ho, my comrades! see the signal 
Waving in the sky," — 

and the spirit of the people changes instantly from 
torpor into joy. Such songs as " Hold the Fort " might 
not be always appropriate ; but could they not, indeed 
will they not, occasionally come in between the Psalm 
of David and the dull didactic hymn, to arouse, if 
nothing more, the audience from its somnolence ? Why 
should the sabbath school and the revival meetings 
have all the best of the music ? 

Such, then, again, is the wonderful effect of this new 
style of sacred song in the conversion of sinners, that it 
will doubtless be the means of bringing more of sing- 
ing, and that congregationally, into our public worship. 
As a rule we sing too little in our sabbath services. 
Worship is in form threefold or triplicate. It consists 
in preaching, praying, singing; but the people join 
actively only in the last-named service. Since, then, it 
may be so effective, since it may combine prayer and 
to some extent preaching also, should not more of time 
be devoted to its practice ? Will not the marvellous 
results of the singing of the modern revivalists, as well 
as of the " Service of Praise " introduced by Dr. Tour- 
jee, have a tendency to lead the people to demand more 
of song in stated worship in the sarictuary ? 

So again (and here will be the greatest benefit), the 
singing of Mr. Sankey and other revivalists may tend 
to break up in some degree the cold formality, which is 
indeed but solemn mockery, that prevails to a lament- 



DESIGN OF CHURCH MUSIC. 325 

able extent in this part of worship in the house of God. 
The end of church music is to lead sinners to Jesus, to 
quicken the spirit of devotion, and to glorify God. But 
in too many instances the singers perform their parts to 
glorify themselves. Sitting far apart from the minister, 
and having but little sympatic with him or his preach- 
ing, they but too often spend the time he occupies, in 
looking over books, or in listless inattention : they sing 
expressly for a musical effect, and nothing more, except 
for the pay which they receive. Now, this is simply 
sacrilege ; but the people encourage it, the churches 
tolerate it, and hence one source of their spiritual weak- 
ness. The objective end of the singing of the revival- 
ists, and of their hymns also, is the conversion of souls 
and the glory of God. Hence the rich fruits that 
follow. The people see this, know this, feel this ; and 
hence we may be sure that a kind of revolution in our 
church psalmody is at hand, and that music will be 
made ere long to fulfil its grand mission for the advance- 
ment of the Redeemer's kingdom. 

But can the methods of the revivalists in song be 
practised and sustained in the churches ? Perhaps not. 
A Sankey is not found in every congregation ; solo and 
chorus cannot always be performed ; and it is strictly 
Biblical that psalms and hymns, as well as what are 
called revival melodies, should be sung, — just as St. 
Paul says, " teaching and admonishing one another in 
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." But the people 
can sing congregationally ; the children can blend their 



326 WHAT IS REQUISITE? 

sweet voices with them if the sabbath-school pieces are 
sometimes brought forward ; the choir can sing to lead 
and teach and praise ; and the whole, as the apostle 
beautifully enjoins, can sing with "grace" in the heart 
" to the Lord." This is the perfection of praise. 
So whether we sing the mighty psalm, — 

" Before Jehovah's awful throne, 
Ye nations, bow with sacred joy : 
Know that the Lord is God alone ; 
He can create, and he destroy/' — 

or the tender hymn, — 

" There is a fountain filled with blood 
Drawn from Immanuers veins ; 
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, 
Lose all their guilty stains," — 

or the spiritual song, — 

" King the bells of heaven : there is joy to-day, 
For a soul returning from the wild ; 
See, the Father meets him out upon the way, 
Welcoming his weary, wandering child," — 

we are still exalting our Redeemer's name, extending 
his dominion over this sinful world, and training our 
voices for that fair song-home, — 

" Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet, 
Their Saviour and brethren transported to greet ; 
While the anthems of rapture unceasingly roll, 
And the smile of the Lord is the life of the soul." 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF IE. MOODY. 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF MR. MOODY. 

CHOICE SAYINGS, INCIDENTS, STORIES, AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF MR. 

MOODY. 

Christ Conquering. — The Net. — Realities. — God here. — Feeling. — 
Jesus. — Mysteries. — Knowledge. — Purgatory. — The Blood. — 
Feeling and Faith. — Morality. — Consequential People. — The Devil 
in Church. — Down Grade. — Thankfulness. — Judas. — Nearness to 
God. — Book of Yfonders. — Strength. — Juniper-Tree. — Reason for 
Faith. — Lost. — Faith. — Three Steps. — Garibaldi. — Laziness. — 
"Wesley. — Bravery. — Rushlight. — Dead Sea. — Adversity. — Work- 
ers. — Missing Stone. — A Smile. — Conversion. — Roll-Call. — Light. 

— Prairie on Fire. — Love. — Not Me. — Duty. — A Lie. — Your Life. 

— Law. — The Earth. — The Law. — Man a Failure. — Chain and All. 

— Scarlet Thread. — A Resolve. — Infidel. — A Substitute. — The 
Crown. — The Surgeon. — " Blazing." — The Soul. — Burden-Bearer. 

— God and the World. — The Shadow. — God's Love. — Now. —Life- 
Boat. — Heart and Head. — The Rescue. — A Lady Converted. — 
Belief. — Norwegian Boy. — The Worm. — A Want. — The Bible. 
-^Not Enough of Them. — One in Christ. — Money. — Higher Up. — 
Sympathy. — The Check. — Silence in Heaven. — Eleventh Hour. — 
Prayer. — Enthusiasm. — A Line. — A Scotch Woman. — Trust. — 
Pride. — The Bible. — Run upon the Banks. 

" The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his life." — 
Solomon. 

" Sometimes he tells them stories and sayings of others, according as his text 
invites him ; for them also men heed and remember better than exhortations." — 
George Herbert. 

Christ Conquering. — It is said of Julian the 
Apostate in Rome, that, when he was trying to stamp 

329 



330 THE NET. 

out Christianity, he was pierced in the side by an arrow. 
He pulled the arrow out, and, taking a handful of blood 
as it flowed from the wound, threw it into the air 
shouting, " Thou Galilean, thou hast conquered ! " 

Caught in the Gospel Net. — A man told me 
the other day that he came to see the chairs. He said 
he heard there were ten thousand chairs all in one hall, 
and he thought they must look so strange. He had a 
curiosity to see them. Thank God, that man got 
caught in the gospel net that very night ! and I hope 
some others that came just out of curiosity this even- 
ing will get caught with the old gospel net. 

Realities. — I believe heaven is a city quite as real 
as London is. What we want is, to make heaven real, 
and hell real, and God real, and Christ real, and live as 
if we believed these things to be real. 

God is here. — We have abundant manifestation 
that his influence from heaven is felt among us. He 
is not in person among us, only in spirit. The sun is 
ninety-five million miles from the earth, yet we feel its 
rays. God has a dwelling-place, God has a home, God 
has a throne. 

Feeling nothing to do with Believing. — A 

great many are saying, " Do you feel this and that ? 
Do you feel, do you feel, do you feel ? " God does not 



BIBLE MYSTERIES. 331 

want you to feel : he tells you to believe. He says, 
" When I see the blood I will pass over ; " and, if you 
are sheltered behind the blood, you are perfectly safe 
and secure. Suppose I say to a man, " Do you feel 
that you own this piece of land? " He looks at me a 
moment, and thinks I must be cr&zj. He says, " Feel ? 
Why, feeling has nothing to do with it. I look at the 
title : that is all I want." Do you see ? all you have to 
do with is the title. 

A Sight of Jesus. — One Christian asked another 
what he expected to do when he got to heaven ; and he 
said he expected to take one good long look of about 
five hundred years at Christ, and then he would want 
to see Paul, and Peter, and John, and the rest of the 
disciples. Well, it seems to me, one glimpse of Christ 
will pay us for all that we are called upon to endure 
here, — to see the King in his beauty, to be in the 
presence of the King. 

Bible Mysteries. — Supposing I should send my 
little boy to school to-morrow morning, and when he 
came home I should say, " Can you read, write, and 
spell ? Do you understand all about arithmetic, geome- 
try, algebra ? " The little fellow would look at me, 
and say, " Why, what do you talk in that way for ? I 
have been trying all day to learn the A B C." Suppos- 
ing I replied, " If you have not finished your education, 
you need not go to school any more." Well, there is 



332 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 

about as much seuse in that as in the way that infidels 
talk about the Bible. They take it up, read a chapter, 
and say, u Oh ! it's so dark and mysterious, we cannot 
understand it." 

Knowledge op Christ will not save. — A great 
many persons flatter themselves they are going to be 
saved because they know a great deal about Jesus 
Christ. But your knowledge of him will not save you. 
Noah's carpenters probably knew as much about the 
ark as Noah did, and perhaps more. They knew that 
the ark was strong, they knew it was built to stand 
the deluge, they knew it was made to float upon the 
waters : they had helped to build it. But they were 
just as helpless when the flood came as men who lived 
thousands of miles away. 

Purgatory. — I am told that in Rome, if you go up 
a few steps on your hands and knees, that is nine years 
out of purgatory. If you take one step now, you are 
out of purgatory for time and eternity. 

The Blood of Jesus. — There is no condemnation 
to him that is in Christ Jesus. You may just pile up 
your sins till they rise up like a dark mountain, and 
then multiply them by ten thousand for those you 
caimot remember; and, after you have tried to enu- 
merate all the sins you have ever committed, just let me 
bring one verse in, and then that mountain will melt 
away, — " The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth 
us from all sin." 



THE DEVIL IN CHUKCH. 333 

Feeling. — I like to have people's faith grounded, 
not on feeling, but on some strong text of Scripture. 
If you feel, feel, all the time, you have no firm ground 
to stand on. It is true, it is better to know God says a 
thing than to feel it. Do not be waiting to feel it. If 
a man invited you to his house to a feast, you would 
not talk about feeling, would you ? The question for 
you to consider is, Do you want to be at this feast to 
which God invites you ? If you do, come along, and 
your feelings will take care of themselves. 

Morality not enough. — Mcodemus stood very 
high : he was one of the church dignitaries ; he stood as 
high as any man in Jerusalem except the high priest 
himself. He belonged to the seventy rulers of the 
Jews ; he was a doctor of divinity, and taught the law. 
There is not one word of Scripture against him : he was 
a man that stood out before the whole nation as of pure 
and spotless character. What does Christ say to him ? 
" Except a man be born again, he cannot see the king- 
dom of God." 

Consequential People. — I pity a man or woman 
that has got an idea that the world can't get along 
without him or her. 

Thf Devil in Church. — Many say, " Oh, yes ! I 
am a Christian : I go to church every sabbath." There 
is no one who goes to church as regularly as Satan. 



334 • THANKFULNESS. 

He is always there before the minister, and the last one 
out of the church. There is not a church or a chapel, 
but he is a regular attendant of it. The idea that he 
is only in slums and lanes, and public houses, is a false 
one. 

The Down Gbade. — I was on the Pacific coast 
some time ago, and there they were telling me about a 
stage-driver who had died a little while ago. You 
that have been there know that those men who drive 
those coaches make a great deal of the brake, for they 
have to keep their feet upon it all the time going down 
the mountains ; and, as this poor fellow was breathing 
his last in his bed, he cried out, " I am on the down 
grade, and can't reach the brake ! " As they told me 
of it, I thought how many more were on the down 
grade, and could not reach the brake, and were dying 
without God and without hope. 

Thankfulness. — One reason why we don't have 
more answers to our prayers is because we are not 
thankful enough. The divine injunction is, " Be care- 
ful for nothing ; but in every thing by prayer and sup- 
plication with thanksgiving let your requests be 
made known unto God." Some one has well said there 
are three things in this verse, — careful for nothing, 
prayerful for every thing, thankful for any thing. 

The Kiss of Judas. — Judas got near enough to 
Christ to kiss him, and yet went down to damnation. 



THE JUNIPER-TREE. 335 

Nearness to God. — If you want to introduce sin- 
ners to God, you must be near to God and to the sinner 
too ; and, if a man is near God, lie will have a love for 
the sinner, and his heart will be near that man. But 
until we are brought near to God ourselves, we cannot 
introduce men to God. 

The Book of Wonders. — A man once wanted to 
sell me a " Bx)ok of Wonders." I took it, and looked it 
over, and could not find any thing in it about Calvary. 
What a mistake ! — a book of wonders, and the greatest 
wonder of all left out ! 

Strength in God. — When God wants to move a 
mountain, he does not take the bar of iron, but he 
takes the little worm. 

The fact is, we have got too much strength. We are 
not weak enough. It is not our strength that we want. 
One drop of God's strength is worth more than all the 
world. 

The Juniper-Tree. — Many of the Bible charac- 
ters fell just in the things in which they were thought 
to be strongest. Moses failed in his humility, Abraham 
in his faith, Elijah in his courage — for one woman 
scared him away to that juniper-tree ; and Peter, whose 
strong point was boldness, was so frightened by a maid 
as to deny his Lord. 



336 THREE FATAL STEPS. 

A Reason for our Faith. — I like a man to be 
able to give a reason for the faith that is in him. Once 
I asked a man what he believed, and he said he believed 
what his chnrch believed. I asked him what his church 
believed, and he said he supposed his church believed 
what he did. And that was all I could get out of him. 

" I AM Lost ! " — A man got right up behind me, 
and he trembled as he said, " I am lost : I want you to 
pray for my soul." And I said, " What if Noah had 
heard that ? He worked a hundred and twenty years, 
and never had a man come to him and say that ; and 
yet he didn't get discouraged." And I made up my 
mind then, that, God helping me, I never would get 
discouraged: I would do the best I could do, and 
leave the results with God ; and it has been a wonder- 
ful help to me. 

Faith. — Faith says " Amen " to every thing that 
God says. Faith takes God without any ifs. If God 
says it, faith says, "I believe it; " faith says "Amen " 
to it. 

Three Fatal Steps. — There are three steps to the 
lost world. The first is neglect. All a man has to do 
is to neglect salvation, and that will take him to the 
lost world. I am on a swift river, and lying in the 
bottom of my little boat ; all I have to do is to fold my 
arms, and the current will carry me out to sea. All a 



BBAVERY. 337 

man has to do in the current of life is to fold his arms, 
and he will drift on and be lost. The second step is 
refusal. The last step is to despise the love of Christ. 

Garibaldi. — Although I don't admire his ideas, I 
do admire the enthusiasm of that man Garibaldi. 

It is reported, that, when he marched towards Rome 
in 1867, they took him up and threw him into prison ; 
and he sat right down, and wrote to his comrades, " If 
fifty Garibaldis are thrown into prison, let Rome be 
free." That is the spirit. Who is Garibaldi? That 
is nothing. " If fifty Garibaldis are thrown into prison, 
let Rome be free." That is what we want in the cause 
of Christ. 

Leanness and Laziness. — A good many people 
are complaining all "the time about themselves, and 
crying out, " My leanness, my leanness ! " when they 
ought rather to say, " My laziness, my laziness ! " 

What John Wesley said. — I believe in what 
John Wesley used to say, " All at it, and always at 
it ; " and that is what the Church wants to say. 

Bravery. — There is a story told in history in the 
ninth century, I believe, of a young man that came 
up with a little handful of men to attack a king who 
had a great army of three thousand men. The young 
man had only five hundred ; and the king sent a mes- 



338 THE DEAD SEA. 

senger to the young man, saying that he need not fear 
to surrender, for he would treat him mercifully. The 
young man called up one of his soldiers, and said, 
" Take this dagger, and drive it into your heart ; " and 
the soldier took the dagger, and drove it into his heart. 
And, calling up another, he said to him, "Leap into 
yonder chasm ; " and the man leaped into the chasm. 
The young man then said to the messenger, " Go back 
and tell your king I have got five hundred men like 
these. We will die, but we will never surrender ; and 
tell your king another thing, — that I will have him 
chained with my dog inside of half an hour." And, 
when the king heard that, he did not dare to meet 
them, and his army fled before them like chaff before 
the wind; and within twenty-four hours he had that 
king chained with his dog. That is the kind of zeal we 
want. 

A Farthing Rushlight. — Some one said, " I can- 
not be any thing more than a farthing rushlight." 

Well, if you can't be more, be that: that is well 
enough. Be all you can. 

The Dead Sea. — What makes the Dead Sea dead ? 
Because it is all the time receiving, never giving out 
any thing. 

Why is it that many Christians are cold ? Because 
they are all the time receiving, never giving out any 
thing. 



THE POWER OF A SMILE. 339 

Adversity. — John Bunyan thanked God more for 
Bedford Jail than for any thing that ever happened to 
him. 

Workers Wanted. — It is not enough to come to 
these meetings : we want ten thousand workers in New 
York City. 

We want ten thousand men and women that are 
willing to say, " Lord, here am I ; use me." 

Ten thousand such people would revolutionize this 
city in a little while. 

The Missing Stone. — I remember hearing of a 
man's dream, in which he imagined that when he died 
he was taken by the angels to a beautiful temple. After 
admiring it for a time, he discovered that one stone 
was missing, — all finished but just one little stone ; 
that was left out. He said to the angel, " What is that 
stone left out for ? " The angel replied, " That was 
left out for you ; but you wanted to do great things, 
and so there was no room left for you." He was 
startled, and awoke, and resolved that he would be- 
come a worker for God ; and that man always worked 
faithfully after that. 

The Power of a Smile. — Won to Christ by a 
smile. We must get the wrinkles out of our brows, 
and we must have smiling faces. 

The world is after the best thing ; and we must show 



340 LIGHT SHINING. 

them that we have got something better than they have 
got. 

How some are Converted. — A good many men 
are converted to a church. They say, " I like that 
church ; it is a beautiful church, and there is beautiful 
singing. I like that quartet choir, and the grand 
organ ; and there is a good minister." And so they are 
converted to the church, and they are converted to the 
singing, and converted to the organ, and converted to 
the minister, or they are converted to the people who 
go there. But that is not being born of God, or being 
converted to God. 

The Roll-call of Heaven. — A soldier lay on his 
dying couch, during our last war, and they heard him 
say, " Here ! " They asked him what he wanted, and 
he put up his hand and said, " Hush ! they are calling 
the roll of heaven, and I am answering to my name." 
And presently he whispered, " Here ! " and he was 
gone. 

Light shining. — A friend of mine was walking 
along the streets one dark night, when he saw a man 
coming along with a lantern. As he came up close to 
him, he noticed by the bright light that the man had 
no eyes. He went past him ; but the thought struck 
him, " Surely that man is blind ! " He turned round, 
and said, " My friend, are you not blind ? " — " Yes," 



CHRISTIAN LOVE. 341 

was the answer. " Then what have you got the lantern 
for ? " — "I carry the lantern," said the blind man, 
" that people may not stumble over me." 

Let us hold up our light, burning with the clear 
radiance of heaven, that men may not stumble over us. 

The Prairie Fire. — Away out on the frontier of 
our country, out on the prairies, where men sometimes 
go to hunt or for other purposes, the grass in the dry 
season sometimes catches fire ; and you will see the 
flames uprise twenty or thirty feet high, and you will 
see those flames rolling over the western desert faster 
than any fleet horse can run. Now, what do the men 
do ? They know it is sure death unless they can make 
some escape. They would try to run away, perhaps, 
if they had fleet horses. But they can't. That fire 
goes faster than the fleetest horse can run. What do 
they do ? Why, they just take a match, and they light 
the grass from it, and away it burns ; and then they 
get into that burnt district. The fire comes on, and 
there they 1 stand perfectly secure — nothing to fear. 
Why? Because the fire has burned all there is to 
burn. 

Take your stand there on Mount Calvary. 

Christian Love. — The morning I was converted, 
I went out doors, and I fell in love with the bright sun 
shining over the earth. I never loved the sun before. 
And, when I heard the birds singing their sweet songs, 



342 LOYE ABOVE DUTY. 

I fell in love with the birds. Like the Scotch lassie 
who stood on the hills of her native land, breathing the 
sweet air, and when asked why she did it, said, "I 
love the Scotch air." 

If the church was filled with love, it could do so 
much more. 

Any One but Me. — There are few now that say, 
" Here am I, Lord ; send me." The cry now is, 
" Send some one else. Send the minister, send the 
church officers, the church-wardens, the elders, but 
not me. I have not got the ability, the gifts, or the 
talents." Ah! honestly say you have not got the 
heart ; for, if the heart is loyal, God can use you. It is 
really all a matter of heart. 

It does not take God a great while to qualify a 
man for his work, if he only has the heart for it. 

Love above Duty. — I am tired of the word " duty," 
tired of hearing, duty, duty, duty ! Men go to church 
because it is their duty. They go to prayer-meeting 
because it is their duty. You can never reach a man's 
heart if you talk to him because it is your duty. Sup- 
pose I told my wife I loved her because it was my duty 
— what would she say ? Once every year I go up to 
Connecticut to visit my aged mother. Suppose when I 
go next time, I should tell her that I knew she was old, 
and that she was living on borrowed time ; that I knew 
she had always done a great deal for me, and that I came 



THE LAW OUR LOOKING-GLASS. 343 

to see her every year because it was my duty. Don't 
you think she would say, "Well, then, my son, you 
needn't take the trouble to come again " ? Let us 
strike for a higher plane. 

A Great Lie. — One of the greatest lies that has 
come out of the pit of hell is that Christ is a hard 
master. It is a lie, and has been so from the founda- 
tion of the world. 

Oh, young men ! I beg of you, do not believe the 
Devil when he says that God is a hard master. It is 
false, my friends ; and to-night let me brand that 
excuse as one of the Devil's own lies, that he has been 
retailing up and down the earth for these six thousand 
years. 

Your Biography. — If you want to read your own 
biography, you need not write it yourself. Turn to the 
third chapter of Romans, and it is all there written by 
a man who knows a good deal more about us than we 
do about ourselves. Christ was the only one that ever 
trod this earth, that saw every thing in the heart of 
man. 

The Law our Looking - Glass. — The law is a 
looking-glass, just to show a man how foul he is in the 
sight of God. 



344 MAN A FAILURE. 

How Earth looks to One near Heaven. — 
When men going up in a balloon have ascended a little 
height, things down here begin to look very small 
indeed. What had seemed very grand and imposing 
now seem as mere nothings ; and, the higher they rise, 
the smaller every thing on earth appears: it gets 
fainter and fainter as they rise, till the railway-train, 
dashing along at fifty miles an hour, seems like a 
thread, and scarcely appears to be moving at all ; and 
the grand piles of buildings seem now like mere dots. 
So it is when we get near heaven : earth's treasures, 
earth's cares, look very small. 

Failing to euleil the Law. — My father once 
told me that in England the archers used to shoot at a 
ring, and, if any archer failed to shoot all his arrows 
through the ring, he was called a sinner. Now, suppose 
I should take ten arrows, and try to send them through 
a ring at the other side of the building, and should 
only get one through: I should be called a sinner. 
And suppose Brother Taylor should take as many 
arrows, and send nine through, one after the other, and 
just miss the ring with the last one ; why, he would be 
a sinner too, just like me. 

Man a Failure. — One man says, " Give me more 
money;" another, "Give me a seat in Congress ;" 
another, " Give me a bottle of rum." Ah ! it is easy to 
condemn the Israelites, it is easy to smile ; but beware 



A GOOD RESOLVE. 345 

that you are not guilty of the same sin. Man was a 
failure under the judges, a failure under the prophets, 
and now for two thousand years under grace he has 
been a most stupendous failure. Walk the streets, and 
see how quickly he goes to ruin ; how many are hasten- 
ing down to the dark caves of sin ! Man in his best 
day, under the most favorable circumstances, is nothing 
but a failure. 

Chain" and All. — In the North there was a minis- 
ter talking to a man in the inquiry-room. He said, 
" My heart is so hard, it seems as if it was chained ; 
and I cannot come." — "Ah!" said the minister, 
" come to Christ, chain and all." And he just came to 
Christ; and Christ snapped the fetters, and set him 
free, right there. 

The Scarlet Thread. — The grace of God brings 
grace down to men. Substitution! If you take that 
out of the Bible, you can take the Bible along with you 
if you wish to. The same story runs all through the 
book. The scarlet thread is unbroken from Genesis to 
Revelation. The hymns that have the scarlet line 
running through them will never be lost. 

A Good Resolve. — I made it a rule that I wouldn't 
let a day pass without speaking to some one about their 
soul's salvation ; and, if they didn't hear the gospel 
from the lips of others, there will be three hundred and 



346 THE INFIDEL. 

sixty-five in a year that shall hear the gospel from my 
lips. There are five thousand Christians here to-night : 
oan't they say, " We won't let a day pass without 
speaking to some one about the cause of Christ " ? 

The Infidel. — When we were in Edinburgh, a 
man came to me, and said, " Over yonder is one of our 
most prominent infidels in Edinburgh. I wish you 
would go over and see him." 

I took my seat beside him, and I asked him if he was 
a Christian. He laughed at me, and said he didn't be- 
lieve in the Bible. " Well," said I, after talking some 
time, " will you let me pray with you ? will you let me 
pray for you ? " — " Yes," said he : "just pray, and see 
if God will answer your prayer. Now let the question 
be decided." — " Will you kneel?" — " No, I won't 
kneel : who am I going to kneel before ? " He said 
it with considerable emphasis. I got down and prayed 
beside the infidel. He sat very straight, so that the 
people should understand that he was not in sym- 
pathy at all with my prayer. After I got through, 
I said, " Well, my friend, I believe that God will an- 
swer my prayers ; and I want you to let me know when 
you are saved." — " Yes, I will let you know when I am 
saved," — all with considerable sarcasm. At last up at 
Wick, at a meeting in the open air one night, on the 
outskirts of the crowd I saw the Edinburgh infidel. 
He said, " Didn't I tell you God wouldn't answer your 
prayer ? " I said, " The Lord will answer my prayer 






THE CROWN. 347 

yet." I had a few minutes' conversation with him, and 
left him ; and just a year ago this month, when we were 
preaching in Liverpool, I got a letter from one of the 
leading pastors of Edinburgh, stating that the Edin- 
b" irgh infidel had found his way to Christ, and found 
the Lord. He wrote an interesting letter, saying how 
God had saved him. 

The Substitute. — Napoleon Bonaparte once sent 
out a draft. A man was drafted who didn't want to 
go. A friend volunteered to go in his place. He went 
into the army, and was killed. A second draft was 
made, and by some accident the same man was drafted 
again; but he said to the officer, " You can't take me : 
I'm dead; I died on such a battle-field." — " Why, man, 
you are crazy," said the officer. "You are not dead: 
here you. are alive and well before me." — "No, sir," 
said the man: "I am dead. The law has no claim on 
me : look at the roll." They looked, and found another 
name written against his. They insisted ; he carried 
his case before the emperor, who said that he was right : 
his friend had died for him. Christ died for me. 

HOW TO GET INTO THE KINGDOM OE GOB. -— The 

only way to get into the Kingdom of God is to be born 
into it. 

The Crown. — When you are in London you may 
go to the Tower and see the crown of England, which 



348 LOSS OF THE SOUL. 

is worth millions, and is guarded there by soldiers ; but 
bear in mind that your eye will never rest upon the 
crown of life except you are born again. 

This Sukgeon and his Patient. — When I was 
in Belfast, I knew a doctor who had a friend, a leading 
surgeon there ; and he told me that the surgeon's cus- 
tom was, before performing an operation, to say to the 
patient, " Take a good look at the wound, and then fix 
your eyes on me, and don't take them off till I get 
through." I thought at the time that was a good illus- 
tration. Sinner, take a good look at the wound to-night, 
and then fix your eye on Christ, and don't take it off. 
It is better to look at the remedy than at the wound. 

Blazing. — When a man goes into the wilderness to 
hunt, he takes a hatchet wfih him, and cuts the bark off 
the trees, — they call it " blazing, " — and thus he can 
find his way out. So God has blazed the way along : 
he has gone up on high, and he says, "Follow me." 
Just come now, and follow the Son of God, for there is 
life there. 

Loss of the Soul. — We hear of a man who has 
lost his health ; and we sympathize with him, and we 
say it is very sad. Our hearts are drawn out in sympa- 
thy. Here is another man who has lost his wealth, and 
we say, " That is very sad." Here is another man who 
has lost his reputation, hjs standing among men. " That 



GOD AND THE WORLD WITH HIM. 349 

is sadder still," you say. We know what it is to lose 
health and wealth and reputation ; but what is the loss 
of all these things, compared with the loss of the soul ? 

Christ our Burden-Bearer. — A minister was 
moving his library up stairs. His little boy wanted to 
help him : so he gave him the biggest book he could 
find, and the little fellow tugged at it till he got it 
about half way up, and then he sat down and cried. 
His father found him, and just took him in his arms, big 
book and all, and carried him up stairs. So Christ will 
carry you and all your burdens. 

God and the World with Him. — Some men have 
an idea when they get converted, that they have got to 
keep Christ and themselves too. It is all wrong. I 
remember one time my little girl was teasing her 
mother to get her a muff, and so one day her mother 
brought a muff home ; and, although it was storming, 
she very naturally wanted to go out in order to try her 
new muff. So she tried to get me to go out with her, 
I went out with her, and I said, " Emma, better let me 
take your hand." She wanted to keep her hands in 
her muff, and so she refused to take my hand. Well, 
by and by she came to an icy place : her little feet 
slipped, and down she went. When I helped her up, 
she said, " Papa, you may give me your little finger." 
— " No my daughter : just take my hand." — "No, no, 
papa : give me your little finger." Well, I gave my 



350 now. 

finger to her, and for a little way she got along nicely ; 
but pretty soon we came to another icy place, and again 
she fell. This time she hurt herself a little, and she 
said, "Papa, give me your hand ; " and I gave her my 
hand, and closed my fingers about her wrist, and held 
her up, so that she could not fall. Just so God is our 
keeper. 

Following- the Shadow. — When I was a little 
boy I used to try to catch my shadow, but I always 
failed. Many a time I might try to see if I could jump 
over my head ;»many a tune I tried to see if I could not 
outrun it ; but it always kept ahead of me. But I 
turned around, and faced the sun, and, lo aud behold ! 
my shadow was coming after me. And so we want to 
look towards Christ, and peace and joy and happiness 
will come in turn. 

God's Loye displayed. — The best title you can 
have to salvation is to find out that you are lost. It 
was Adam's fall that brought out God's love. God 
never told Adam, when he put him in Eden, that he 
loved him. It was after he was lost. It was that very 
thing that brought out the love of God. 

Now. — I heard some one in the inquiry-room telling 
a young person to go home and seek Christ in his closet. 
I would not dare to tell any one to do that. You 
might be dead before you got home. If I read my 



THE HEART RULES THE HEAD. 351 

Bible correctly, the man who preaches the gospel is 
not the man who tells me to seek Christ to-morrow, or 
an hour hence, but NOW. He is near to every one of 
us this minute to save. If the world would just come 
to God for salvation, and be in earnest about it, they 
would find the Son of God right at the door of their 
heart. 

The Life-Boat. — I read a number of years ago of 
a vessel that was wrecked. The life-boats were not 
enough to take all the passengers. A man who was 
swimming in the water swam up to one of the life- 
boats that were full, and seized it with his hand. They 
tried to prevent him, but the man was terribly in ear- 
nest about saving his life ; and one of the men in the 
boat just drew a sword, and cut off his hand. But the 
man didn't give up : he reached out the other hand. 
He was terribly in earnest. He wanted to save his life. 
But the man in the boat took the sword, and cut off his 
other hand. But the man did not give up. He swam 
up to the boat, and seized it with his teeth. Some of 
them said, " Let us not cut his head off," and they drew 
him in. That man was terribly in earnest ; and, my 
friends, if you want to get into the kingdom of God, 
you will seek your souls' salvation to-night. 

The Heart rules the Head. — If your heart is 
all right, your head will be also, for out of the heart 
proceeds all evil. Let the reservoir of sin be broken 



352 THE CONVERSION OF A LADY. 

up and emptied, and all the rest of you will come 
around right. 

To the Rescue. — May God wake up a slumbering 
church ! What we want men to do is not to shout 
" Amen," and clasp their hands. The deepest and 
quietest waters very often run swiftest. We want men 
to go right to work : there will be a chance for you to 
shout by and by. Go and speak to your neighbor, and 
tell him of Christ and heaven. You need not go a few 
yards down these streets, before you find some one who 
is passing down to the darkness of eternal death. Let 
us haste to the rescue ! 

The Conversion oe a Lady. — When Mr. Sankey 
and I were in the North of England, I was preaching 
one evening, and before me sat a lady who was a 
sceptic. When I had finished, I asked all who were 
anxious, to remain. Nearly all remained, herself among 
the number. I asked her if she was a Christian ; and 
she said she was not, nor did she care to be. I prayed 
for her there. On inquiry I learned that she was a 
lady of good social position, but very worldly. She 
continued to attend the meetings ; and, in a week after, 
I saw her in tears. After the sermon I went to her, 
and asked if she was of the same mind as before. She 
replied that Christ had come to her, and she was 
happy. Last autumn I had a note from her husband, 
saying that she was dead, that her love for her Master 
had sustained her. 



THE NORWEGIAN BOY. 853 

Belief precedes Good Works. — You cannot do 
any thing to please God until you believe. Suppose I 
should say to my little girl, " Emma, go and get me a 
glass of water," and she were to say, " I don't want to 
do it, papa." She goes into another room, and some one 
gives her a cluster of grapes, which she decides to give 
to her papa. Do you think these grapes would be 
acceptable if she did not want to get the water? I 
should say, " I do not want the grapes until you have 
brought the water." 

She goes out of the room again, and some one gives 
her an orange. If she brought the orange to me, do 
you think I should want it ? No, and that child cannot 
do any thing to please me until I get the water. You 
cannot please God until you believe on his Son. 

The Norwegian Boy. — I was in a Boston prayer- 
meeting a number of years ago — but I ought to say 
that I have lived for a number of years out West, a 
number of years in Chicago ; and you know that that 
part of the country is made up principally of young 
men. At any rate, the prayer-meetings were for the 
most part made up of young men, — I hardly saw a gray- 
headed man in them at all. So while I was in Boston 
it was quite a treat to see old, gray-headed men in the 
assemblies. Well, in that meeting, a little tow-headed 
Norwegian boy stood up. He could hardly speak a 
word of English plain, but he got up, and came to the 
front. He trembled all over, and the tears were all 



354 WHAT IS WANTED. 

trickling down his cheeks ; but he spoke out as well as 
he could, and said, " If I tell the world about Jesus, 
then will he tell the Father about me." He then took 
his seat. That was all he said ; but I tell you, in those 
few words he said more than all of them, old and young, 
together. Those few words went straight down into 
the heart of every one present. 

"If I tell the world/' — yes, that's what it means 
to confess Christ. 

The Woem that dieth not. — I believe that worm 
that dieth not is our memory. I believe that what 
will make that lost world so terrible to us is memory. 
"We say now that we forget, and we think we do ; but 
the time is coming when we will remember, and we 
cannot forget. 

There are many things we will want to forget, espe- 
cially our sins that have been blotted out by God. If 
God has forgotten them, you would think we ought to 
forget them. Every sin that has been so taken away 
and covered up except the blood of his own Son will 
come back to us by and by. 

What is wanted. — If you can only convince the 
greatest blasphemer and infidel in New York that you 
really love him, you can reach him. 

What we want, therefore, is this love ; and that is 
the work of the Holy Ghost to impart ; and let us pray 
to-day that the love of God may be shed abroad in all 
our hearts. 



ALL ONE IN CHEIST. 355 

The tktte Idea of preaching. — The true idea of 
preaching is to cry down yourself and the Devil, and to 
preach up no one but God. 

The Bible its own Intebpeetee. — If you just 
take the Bible itself alone, without any other book to 
help you to interpret it, one passage will explain an- 
other. Instead of running after the interpretations of 
different men, let God interpret it to your soul. 

Not Bibles enough. — People do not have Bibles 
enough. Once in my own Sunday school, I asked all 
the children who had on borrowed boots to rise ; no 
one rose. Then I asked all those who had on borrowed 
coats to rise; no one rose. Then I asked all those 
who had borrowed Testaments in their hands to rise, 
and they all went up ; and I said, " I want you all to 
bring your Bibles with you." And about two months 
after that, it would have done your soul good to see 
every child come with a Bible. 

All One in Cheist. — The blood of Christ makes 
us one. During the days of slavery in America, when 
there was much political strife and strong prejudice 
against the black men, especially by Irishmen, I heard 
a preacher say, when he came to the cross for salvation, 
he found a poor negro on the right hand, and an Irish- 
man on the left hand, and the blood came trickling 
down upon them, and made them one. 



356 HIGHER UP. 

There may be strife in the world, but every one 
Christ has redeemed, he has made one. We are blood 
relations. 

Money foe Christ. — When men go up in balloons 
they take with them bags of sand for ballast ; and when 
they want to rise higher they throw out some of the 
sand. Now, there are some Christians who before they 
rise higher will have to throw out some ballast. It may 
be money or any other worldly consideration ; but, if 
they wish to rise, they must get rid of it. If you have 
got overloaded, just throw out a little money, and you 
will mount up as on eagle's wings. Any minister will 
tell you what to do with it. I never saw any depart- 
ment of the Lord's work that did not want some money. 

Higher up. — Not long ago there lived an old bed- 
ridden saint, and a Christian lady who visited her found 
her always very cheerful. This visitor had a lady 
friend of wealth, who constantly looked on the dark 
side of things, and was always cast down, although she 
was a professed Christian. She thought it would do 
this lady good to see the bedridden saint, so she took 
her down to the house. She lived up in the garret, five 
stories up ; and, when they had got to the first story, 
the lady drew up her dress, and said, " How dark and 
filthy it is I " — " It is better higher up," said her friend. 
They got to the next story, and it was no better ; the 
lady complained again, but her friend replied, " It's 



THE CHECK. 357 

better higher up." At the third floor it seemed still 
worse, and the lady kept complaining, but her friend 
kept saying, " It is better higher up." At last they got 
to the fifth story ; and, when they went into the sick- 
room, there was a nice carpet on the floor, there were 
flowering plants in the window, and little birds singing. 
And there they found the bedridden saint, — one of 
those saints whom God is pohshing for his own tem- 
ple, — just beaming with joy. The lady said to her, 
"It must be very hard for you to lie there." She smiled, 
and said, "It is better higher up" Yes; and if things 
go against us, my friends, let us remember that " it is 
better higher up." 

Sympathy for Suffering. — I remember when our 
war was going on, I took up the morning paper, and 
read of a terrible battle, — ten thousand men killed ; and 
I laid the paper down, and forgot it. At last I went 
into the battle-field, and helped to bear away the sick 
and wounded. After I had been over one or two 
battle-fields, I began to realize what it meant. I could 
hear the dying groans of the men, and their cry for 
water ; and, when I heard of a battle, the whole thing 
was stamped upon my mind. I can tell you how a 
little child suffered, and it will bring tears to your eyes ; 
but I tell you how the Son of God suffered, and some 
of you will go out laughing. ■ 

The Check. — When Moses said, " If they ask 



358 PEAYEE. 

me who sent me, what shall I tell them ? " God said, 
" Say, I AM sent me." And, as some one has said, 
that was a blank check, and God told him to fill it out ; 
and when they were in the desert, and wanted water, 
he filled out the check, and drew water from the rock ; 
when he wanted bread, he filled out the check, and 
God gave him bread from heaven. 

Silence in Heaven. — They never knew the Son 
of God when he was here. He would hush every 
harp in heaven to hear a sinner pray. No music would 
delight him so much. 

The Eleventh Hotje. — Somebody has said, " The 
thief on the cross was saved at the eleventh hour." I 
don't know about that. Perhaps it was the first hour. 
It might have been the first hour with him, I think. 
Perhaps he never knew Christ until he was led out to 
die beside him. This may have been the very first 
time he had ever learned the way of faith in the Son 
of God. 

Peayee. — If things do not always please you, 
don't complain : just peay. 

A Steaight Line. — When I was a boy I used to 
try to describe a straight path through the snow in the 
fields by looking down at my feet. The way to make a 
straight path would be to look at an object beyond. 



TRUSTING. 359 

So in this passage we are directed to have our eyes on 
the mark at the right hand of the Master. 

The Scotch Woman. — Some one said to a Scotch 
woman, " Yon are a woman of great faith." 

" No," she says : " I am a woman of little faith ; but 
I have got a great God." 

Trusting. — My little Willie' I once told to jump 
off a high table, and I would catch him. But he looked 
down, and said, " Papa, I's afraid." I again told him 
I'd catch him ; and he looked down, and said, " Papa, 
I's afraid." You smile ; but that's just the way with 
the unbeliever. He looks down, and dare not trust the 
Lord. You say that would be blind faith, but I say it 
wouldn't. I told Willie to look at me, and then jump ; 
and he did it, and was delighted. He wanted to jump 
again ; and finally his faith became so great that he 
would have jumped when I was eight or ten feet away, 
and said, " Papa, I's a-comin'." 

Pride in Error. — You cannot find a man who holds 
any false doctrine of religion who is not proud of it. 

Try the Bible a New Way. — If we will only take 
our Bible, and make up our minds that we will depend 
upon our own study of the Bible, He will help us 
understand it. If we try to study it in one way, and 
we find we do not like it, let us take up another ; and, 
if that fails, try another. 



360 A RUN UPON THE BANKS. 

Some time ago, my wife was very anxious that I 
should learn to like tomatoes. She liked them, and 
she wanted me to like them. So she got me to try 
them, first raw, with vinegar and sugar and pepper, 
but I could not bear them : then she fixed them another 
way, but still I could not eat them. One day I came 
home, and she said, " I have cooked the tomatoes a 
new way." Well, I tried them again, once more, and I 
thought they were the best things I ever tasted. So 
if you take up the Bible one way, and don't like it, take 
it up another way, and keep trying until you find a 
way in which it will unfold itself to you. 

A Run upon the Banks. — God wants you to come 
right to the throne of grace, and to come boldly. A 
while ago I learned from the Chicago papers that there 
had been a run on the banks there, and many of them 
were broken. What a good thing it would be to get 
up a run on the bank of heaven ! what a glorious 
thing to get up a run on the throne of grace I 



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